The Coffee Table (15) |Home Ents Review
Dir. Caye Casas, Spain, 2022, 90 mins, subtitled
Cast: David Pareja, Estefanía de los Santos, Josep Maria Riera, Claudia Riera
Review by Colin Dibben
Jesús (Pareja) and his partner Maria (Santos) are bickering in a furniture shop. Jesús wants to buy a pretty tasteless coffee table. Maria judges the item correctly and thinks Jesús should be paying more attention to their newborn son, Cayetano.
Jesús installs the table in their flat. But the couple’s inability to communicate snowballs out of control after the unthinkable happens. To exacerbate matters, Jesús’ brother and his new girlfriend come round for dinner. Two’s a crowd but four’s a deadly nightmare this time round.
After a slightly confrontational and disengaging first few minutes, The Coffee Table excels at keeping the viewer on tenterhooks, despite the driver for everything that happens being Jesús’ inability to speak to Maria frankly and fully. It’s definitely grim but interesting to see how actors and cinematography ratchet up the intensity and the tension, keeping it credible at the same time.
Extras include interviews with the director, the two leads and the director of photography. Two short films by Caye Casas – RIP and Nada S.A – are also included.
The two short films offer an interesting reflection on the feature: in The Coffee Table, Casas has finetuned the dark comic and satirical tone of the two shorts. The feature plays with being both pitch black comedy and intense observation of a disintegrating relationship. The Mike Leigh resonance is unmistakable.
The Limited Edition contains:
• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Luke Headland
• 120-page book with new essays by Anton Bitel, Jennie Kermode, Joe Lipsett, Shelagh Rowan-Legg Josh Slater-Williams and Dolores Quintana plus storyboard comparisons.
• Six collectors’ art cards
The Coffee Table is out on limited and standard Blu-ray editions on 28 April 2025.
