‘The Wave’ Review: Sebastián Lelio’s Rousing but Elementary Feminist Musical

In 2019, a year after swells of protests swept through universities in Chile, a group of women, many of them blindfolded, took over the streets of Valparaiso, a coastal city in the country, to dance and sing a song that would go on to become an anthem. The performance was organized by LASTESIS, an interdisciplinary and trans-inclusive feminist collective, and it was their way of joining the global reach of the #MeToo movement. The lyrics to the song translated roughly to “A Rapist in Your Path” and even if you can’t understand the words, the demonstration is powerful. 

There are similarly affecting scenes in Sebastián Lelio’s The Wave, a spirited musical film about the 2018 university protests. The feature, which premiered at Cannes outside the main competition, chronicles the fictional experiences of a student named Julia (Daniela López), who wrestles with the realities of a recent sexual assault within the context of this burgeoning movement.

The Wave is an ambitious spectacle, with Lelio (A Fantastic Woman, The Wonder) combining energetic songs and dance sequences with surrealist touches to tell a story of women’s empowerment. Aesthetic flourishes abound, which make it an entertaining viewing experience, but one does wish that the narrative was a touch more complex. Lelio embeds some compelling meta-textual moments — ones that mostly address that fact that he’s a man tackling this subject — but the actual story of Julia can feel secondary to the melodic pageantry.

Still, with the stateside popularity of Emilia Perez, which premiered at Cannes last year, The Wave could find a meaningful audience in the U.S. should it get distribution. Lelio’s film is more coherent in its politics than it is dramatically, and could resonate on that level with younger arthouse viewers. 

When we meet Julia, she’s going home with her TA, Max (Lucas Sáez Collins). How their evening ends remains a mystery (Lelio films the couple stumbling into Max’s apartment and the door closing to us), but it haunts Julia. The following day at school, the women and nonbinary students marshal their peers to join a demonstration condemning how the university handles sexual assault cases. The protests takes the school by storm, and soon more women feel empowered to speak up about their experiences.

Julia, somewhat reluctantly, joins the organizing efforts and becomes a member of a working group tasked with collecting survivor testimonies. Hearing all of these testimonies, which Lelio stitches together with the help of editor Soledad Salfate, compels Julia to come forward with her own story. 

The Wave, which was written by Lelio, Manuela Infante, Josefina Fernández and Paloma Sala, tackles many aspects of the #MeToo movement — and dynamics within organizing communities more broadly — with good intentions. That said, the results can be shaky. Part of the issue stems from the fact that Julia isn’t a sturdy enough anchor; her character at times feels flat.

The university student initially struggles to speak up because she’s working-class and on scholarship, while her assaulter comes from relative wealth. There’s a compelling thread concerning these class differences, as well as the fact that Max considers himself to be a good guy. This complicates the otherwise straightforward narrative by imbuing it with higher stakes. One wishes that The Wave further embraced this type of gray area and the challenges that crop up in real-world cases involving sexual violence. 

Unfortunately, for the most part, especially early on, The Wave sticks to the surface, offering a story that can feel like Feminism 101. There’s also an overplayed metaphor about using one’s voice that tips into cliché over the course of this 2-hour-plus film. To his credit, Lelio does take more risks in the second half of The Wave, when he breaks the fourth wall and adds surrealist touches that effectively blur the lines between Julia’s reality and her memories.

In an exciting turn, the director also focuses on tensions that form within organizing communities because of competing goals or comfort levels with certain actions. Julia eventually falls into a sororal relationship with Rafa (Lola Bravo), Luna (Avril Aurora) and Tamara (Paulina Cortés), three other women who encourage her to confront her memories and report Max to university administrators. 

Even when it falls short, The Wave boasts a commitment to its entrancing maximalist aesthetics (Benjamín Echazarreta serves as DP, Estefanía Larraín is the production designer and Muriel Parra does costumes). Lelio gathers an ensemble of more than 100 performers to stage dramatic dances (with choreography by Ryan Heffington) to rousing musical selections (music is by Matthew Herbert) about the difficulty of speaking up as a survivor, the manipulative tactics used by assailants, as well as the violent ineptitude of university administrators. The big numbers are anthemic, and just as affecting as LASTESIS’ enduring protest song.