If you live in San Francisco, Puzzle, (Rompecabezas, Argentina/France 2010), Natalia Smirnoff’s delicate first feature which focuses on a marginalized woman in Latin American society, opens Friday, September 9 at the San Francisco Film Society’s new theatrical home, San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema (1746 Post Street).

A middle-aged housewife, cherished by her husband and two sons but nevertheless taken for granted, discovers an aptitude for jigsaw puzzles in this beautifully modulated character portrait. After a broken dinner plate leads to an epiphany, María del Carmen (played by María Onetto, star of Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman) begins assembling newly purchased puzzles on a small table. Though her husband wonders what the point is, she perseveres, eventually signing up for a competition with a wealthier, more extroverted man named Roberto as her partner. Much of the film’s delight comes from watching the characters develop-as María finds the missing piece in her life, the members of her family tacitly acknowledge the ways in which they were keeping her from becoming whole.

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