Official competition, or Competencia ofcial for bilingual people. A title of circumstance, after the revelation of the Cannois charts by Thierry Frémaux a few days ago. And a title to remember, since it is one of the best comedies of the past year. Given that it is now available in physical format and streaming, it is high time to talk about this pearl of black humour smearing the film scene.
Ego collision imminent
Baby of a duo of Argentine directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, Official competition we narrate the story of a millionaire who, no longer knowing what to do to burn his name to posterity, will decide to finance a film. A very big movie, if possible... He will then bring together the best director of the moment, Lola Cuevas (Penelope Cruz). And in front of the camera, she will have to lead the great star of Hollywood Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), a radical theatre actor Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) and Diana Suàrez (Irene Escolar), the very daughter of the rich financial. Unfortunately for the businessman, if their individual talent is actually great, the collision of their ego will be only more phenomenal.
Real bullet satire
And what do the two South Americans do with that pitcher? Well, neither the potache comedy nor the snoring pamphlet that we could have feared! They will be able to navigate between these two reefs by portraying these characters trapped in their respective epochals and egos. From the unmanageable director, absolutely certain of her talent, to the two males (the Hollywood starlette and the occult man of theatre) whom everything opposes if this is their consideration of themselves, the portrait of the world of cinema depicted here is not resounding. No more than that of the financier, graffiti and ready to do anything to make his name exist through this film, and this until « Sell » His own daughter.
Official competition knows how to let his plans live in a long time, a often wide framing and a licked but stripped aesthetic, like decors. The characters seem to be locked in a castle of modern times, made of concrete and glass, absolutely disproportionate. Crushed in this carcan, the three main protagonists will follow Lola's creative lubies, which are all pretexts for Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat to make us feel their cinema: games of sounds, light, framing, textures... They experiment and, in doing so, manage by their image to convey their discourse. But in an attempt to understand the film, we will focus on a specific scene.
The kiss
The erotic scene of the feature film, the kiss scene (see video above) contains the essence of this exciting Argentine film. We were talking about ego collisions, here we have a collision of times. The old cinema, made by men for men: man resolutely viril (Rivero and his erection), the age difference always leaning on the male side (Torres), the role of voyeur sometimes embarrassed but accommodating in the end well of the situation (the rich financier). A late time that Lola bursts with a single castrative rictus: these poor guys so sure of them don't carry anything... Despite their rewards, despite their experience, their kisses do not trigger any sensation, at most some discomfort.
Besides, she's going to have to pass behind the camera (and behind the microphones, since here « sound is the key ») and show them what she wants to capture. First and new step: consent. A subsequent consent that finally comes from sensuality. Sounds. The moaning. The caresses. Look. And therefore eroticism... The bodies move from the verticality imposed by male rigidity to the horizontality proposed by Lola.
A reversal from which emerges the comic spring of the scene – the embarrassment and departure of the father – but also its theoretical substance. A relatively wide Italian plan, a mostly static camera, no snoring or visual snoring dialogue and yet! All the stakes of the film's speech are here. Simplicity and evocative – meaning, humour, malice – that promises these two directors a brilliant future career. Anyway, Official competition is a subtle comedy, grotesque, acerbic, as we would like to see more!
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