Actrius

A young actress is vying for the role of the great theatre legend, Empar Ribera. In order to find out more about the now dead actress' life, and therefore, perhaps better her chances at the audition, she interviews three actresses who have had Ribera as a drama teacher.
When Ventura Pons made his momentous breakthrough with ”Ocaña, retrat intermitent” he already had a long career behind him as a theatre director. His debut featurefilm is said to have been the most profitable Catalonian film ever. His comedies are very well liked and are a regular sight at film festivals around the world. With his background in the theatre it seems natural that Pons would choose to make a film based on ”E.R.”, a metaplay by Josep Maria Benet I Jornet.
The film has become a powerful drama about struggle, envy, rivalry and friendship that moves within the realm of the theatre. It is a living and intelligent story, with a purple and red cardboard theatre serving to connect the various parts. The talented and experienced actors lift the film with their subtle and elegant performances. Nuria Espert and Rosa Maria Sardà come across as magical, passionate, burning souls in the bodies of artists. The hot-tempered Spanish syllables are fired out at a staccato clip, boiling in heated moments, but caressingly beautiful in nostalgic parts.
The dialogue is what really carries the film but the bodies do their bit, moving deliberately within the space. Ventura Pons has been said to have ''his soul in theatre and his heart in film''. His skilful work with actors combines with his cinematographic touch - half images and close-ups, slow zooms - in and out - all contributing to the intensity of the monologues. The sepia coloured light throughout the film is reminiscent of the warm air and soil of the Iberian peninsula, but also contains a feel of kerosene lamps from a bygone age of the theatre.
The film is only partially concerned with the present, (the young woman visits the older women one by one; they drink whiskey, speak and listen) and mostly with the past. The young woman asks questions, and gets different answers. What went actually on between the actresses and their mentor? Their selective memories and the will's deductive power have great significance and the drama takes on an almost thriller-like quality - a cross between Kurosawa's ”Rashomon” and Mankiewicz's ”All About Eve.”
Linda Hedihn

Premiärstatus
Skandinavisk premiär: Medverkande
Nuria Espert, Rosa Maria Sarda: Producent
Ventura Pon: Manus
Tomàs Pladevall: Foto
Tomàs Pladevall: Musik
Carles Cases: Talat språk
Catalan (English subtitles)