Toc Toc 2017

Blanca, Alexandra Jiménez, who works in a research laboratory, grapples with germ phobia and avoids touching people or surfaces; she shields herself with antibiotic wipes and frequent hand washing whenever contact seems unavoidable. Ana Maria, Rossy de Palma, contends with religious mania, driven by a compulsion to cross herself or touch an image of Jesus before stepping out of the house. She also struggles with checking OCD, repeatedly verifying the faucet, her keys, the stove, and other everyday tasks before she can leave. Emilio, Paco León, is an arithmomaniac who hoards junk and calculates in his head to the point of discomfort for others—his numerical compulsions creep into his taxi fares as he recites figures about life and mortality, all while his mounting hoarding irritates his wife. Otto, Adrián Lastra, is obsessed with symmetry: he rearranges objects around him, refuses to step on lines, and even moves across spaces by avoiding striped carpets and cracks, treating each surface as a practical puzzle to solve. Lili, Nuria Herrero, exhibits echolalia and palilalia, endlessly repeating phrases she hears from others and her own utterances, a pattern that threads through the waiting room’s murmur. Federico, Oscar Martínez, shows motor tics along with copropraxia and coprolalia, making involuntary movements and uttering blunt, vulgar phrases that puncture the room’s uneasy calm.

Each of them believes they has a standing appointment with Doctor Palomero, a famous psychologist, but they arrive to discover other patients are also scheduled for the same session and that the doctor is delayed. In the sterile glow of the waiting room, the six patients collide over their OCD manifestations, yet they also discover a surprising capacity to tolerate and even begin to understand one another. Blanca’s fear of contamination heightens when Federico shouts crude phrases, which makes her fear that he’s about to assault her. Emilio tries to defuse the tension by explaining the Tourette-like symptoms Federico exhibits, but he also needles Ana Maria by mocking her ritual crossings, counting the number of times she erases and repeats herself in reaction to Federico’s outbursts. Emilio’s impatience grows as he grows tired of Lili’s constant parroting, while Otto—whose own name is a palindrome—finds Lili’s echoes oddly intriguing, since symmetry is his driving obsession.

As the clock ticks, the group slowly recognizes that they irritate one another as much as they are irritated by the others’ quirks. They propose ways to cohabitate their obsessions and to support one another’s coping strategies, sharing small, fleeting triumphs that momentarily push their compulsions to the margins. They recall moments when boundaries blurred in a crisis and acknowledge those moments as brief, imperfect progress. Blanca touches Ana Maria’s shoulder to steady a collapsing moment, only to retreat to the restroom to wash, then admit the slip in the group’s mini-therapy orbit.

When the receptionist announces that the doctor’s flight has landed but will take about half an hour to reach the office, the patients decide not to wait and instead improvise their own informal group therapy. They commit to meeting weekly, built on the fragile but growing sense of shared purpose they’ve found in this accidental alliance. Lili and Otto decide to continue getting to know each other that evening, while Ana Maria invites Federico to dinner the following week, a plan he accepts. Emilio offers each a ride home in his taxi, but Federico declines, saying he’ll walk from the hospital nearby.

Frederico then returns to the office and reveals that he is Doctor Palomero, using a pro bono ruse to camouflage his own Tourette Syndrome while orchestrating the patients’ self-help groups. The receptionist confirms she has already arranged a new session for the next week with another group of patients. As the credits roll, each patient appears to be making progress, continuing to navigate life with a steadier footing and a newfound sense of community. Verónica Forqué as Paciente nuevo grupo #1.