{"id":154279,"date":"2023-05-26T22:34:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T17:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/the-complicated-return-of-victor-erice-in-close-your-eyes-cannes-film-festival-2023\/"},"modified":"2023-05-26T22:34:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T17:04:40","slug":"the-complicated-return-of-victor-erice-in-close-your-eyes-cannes-film-festival-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/the-complicated-return-of-victor-erice-in-close-your-eyes-cannes-film-festival-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"the complicated return of V\u00edctor Erice in ‘Close your eyes’ (Cannes Film Festival 2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emotion was in the air in the Debussy room during one of the most anticipated nights of the 76th Cannes Film Festival: the time had finally come to discover ‘Close the eyes<\/strong>‘, the new movie V\u00edctor Erice, 31 years later<\/strong> from ‘The quince sun’ (1992). The previous conversation was marked by enthusiasm but also by caution due to the long retirement of the 82-year-old artist and the strange absence of his work in the Official Selection. In fact, Erice did not go to Cannes.<\/p>\n

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The beginning of his new work is the most baffling<\/strong>: in the style of a not to go<\/em> Hollywood classic, Jose Coronado<\/strong> He arrives like a Humphrey Bogart at the French mansion of an eccentric gentleman who has called himself “Sad King” (Josep Maria Pou<\/strong>) and who lives alone with a faithful Chinese butler who wears sunglasses. Of course, they start smoking.<\/p>\n

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A strange conversation takes place very theatrical<\/strong> where that Sad King tells part of his story and orders the Spanish Bogart to find his daughter to feel “her look” for the last time. She sends him neither more nor less than to Shanghai (a nod to ‘The Shanghai Promise’, an unsuccessful adaptation by Erice). When one has already settled in the chair before this strange premise, a swerve arrives: this prologue is part of another film within fiction, an unfinished project after the mysterious disappearance of its protagonist<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Stories and feelings of a rusty artist<\/h2>\n

I honestly breathed a sigh of relief when ‘Close Your Eyes’ started up again, thinking that those such forced and literary dialogues, and those performances and with such artificial gestures <\/strong>they were a more or less logical part of an attempt to recreate ancient material, emphasizing its difference and relic status. But not. That is the tone in which almost all the characters in the film will speak, watered by a voice-over that provides clarifications and reflections. It gets heavy to listen to 169 minutes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Fortunately, Erice has at his command a great deal<\/strong> that, despite having to declaim<\/strong> the lines of the script as if they were on a live stage, breathe life into much of the film, which has beautiful ideas<\/strong> and moments that are highly inspired, but often feel like a rehearsal for a theatrical performance. Manolo Solo<\/strong> he takes over his character and supports this complicated and irregular narrative on his shoulders, even during the most ridiculous part of the film: the making of a television show that is totally implausible on the screen.<\/p>\n

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