In Her Place 2024

In 1955, writer María Carolina Geel, who uses the pen name Georgina Silva, fatally shoots her lover Roberto Pumarino at the restaurant of the Hotel Crillón in Santiago and is put on trial for murder. The case becomes the focus of a media circus because of its circumstances, putting scrutiny on Aliro, the judge handling the case, and her paralegal assistant, Mercedes, Elisa Zulueta who treats the case as a routine affair. Due to the controversial nature of the case, the trial is held without spectators, with only Aliro, Mercedes, Carolina, and the relevant lawyers and witnesses in attendance.

As the trial proceeds, Aliro and Mercedes learn that the case is inspired in part by a similar case in 1941 at the same hotel in which María Luisa Bombal shot her lover at the Hotel Crillón. They also learn from multiple witnesses that Georgina and Roberto’s relationship was a volatile affair marked by moments of high passion and frequent rows. Georgina’s former husband and sister defend her reputation, while Roberto’s acquaintances paint a contrary picture. However, Mercedes is moved when a witness recalls Georgina angrily rejecting a vacuum cleaner gifted by Roberto and throwing into a river, saying that she did not want to conform to female stereotypes.

Mercedes begins to discreetly offer cigarettes to Georgina and volunteers to deliver her clothes when Aliro decides not to put her in jail and instead put her in the care of a women-only facility run by nuns. Mercedes is allowed access to Georgina’s apartment, but is mesmerized by its appearance and evidence of Georgina’s lifestyle, which she compares with her condition as an obedient housewife and mother in a working-class area. Mercedes then helps herself to the apartment’s contents, using Georgina’s accessories and dresses to work. She catches the attention of her family and workmates, but escapes scrutiny.

Montero, the prosecutor in the case, tells Aliro that Georgina is enjoying luxuries while in custody. Aliro then orders Mercedes to take photographs of the shelter to verify the claims. While waiting for Georgina, Mercedes is moved when Rosa, a fellow detainee who asks her to take a photograph of her, tells her that she was incarcerated after killing her son-in-law for beating her pregnant daughter. Mercedes then enters Georgina’s cell and speaks with her. Georgina tells of how she feels free and tranquil in detention. Back home, Mercedes’ husband, Efrain, notices her crying after being gifted with a vacuum cleaner by friends. Mercedes then goes to Georgina’s apartment to spend the night, but is followed and discovered there by Efrain. Efrain accuses her of going insane, but Mercedes says the apartment is the only place where she is at peace. Both then sleep at Georgina’s bed.

Georgina, who invokes her right to silence throughout the trial, instead publishes her prison memoirs. The renewed attention to the case and Georgina’s claims in the memoir that she was bearing greater responsibility to a crime committed together with Roberto prompts Aliro to convict Georgina of murder and sentence her to imprisonment. However, Mercedes, who continues to break into Georgina’s apartment, is disappointed after learning on the radio that Georgina has received a presidential pardon after her case becomes an international cause celebre. Mercedes then launders at a park in front of Georgina’s apartment and sees Georgina arriving by car. The two exchange glances to acknowledge each other’s respect before Georgina enters her residence.