THE OUTSIDER

The insistent, throbbing melancholy of the Latin-American version of the death-in-love theme is far removed from the apple-checked Hollywood idylls. A recent Argentinian importation, this is in the romantic tradition, nostalgically Byronesque, with the author's savage treatment of love as a violent medium for the artist's self-immolation. Painter Juan Pablo tells the story of his love for Maria, a woman who ""understood him"". There's the artist's growing world sickness, the brief ecstasy of touching life and hope through love of woman, the gradual disillusioned, anguished gropings to recover Paradise Lost, the final madness in which jealousy, despair and loneliness flame into violence. Except for Marie, the characters emerge as masks. The locale is Argentina, but might well be any suburb of Haden Very special, very Latin in appeal.