Going through troubles can be made easier by having a friend. That’s true in Mexican drama Violet Perfume: Nobody Hears You, alternatively titled No One is Listening. It follows high school transferee Yessica who befriends the quiet kid in her new class, Miriam, which becomes an unexpected bright spot in her tough life. It’s a hard watch because of how tough her life gets– the bleak and depressing circumstances of her family life require trigger warnings, to say the least– but the film needed to illustrate how far abuse can go unnoticed, and how abusers can take advantage of that lack of awareness. Ultimately, Perfume de Violetas is a tough watch, but through the film’s sensitive depiction and the leads’ masterful performances, it’s an essential one.
Yessica is a rebellious girl who forms an unlikely friendship with quiet schoolmate Miriam. Yessica's home life is ruled by her brutal stepfather and her amoral stepbrother, Jorge, while Miriam shares a calm, loving household with her mother. The girls' friendship is shattered after Jorge arranges to have one of his friends rape Yessica.
