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- Daaaaaali by Quentin Dupieux
- Amor by Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri
DAAAAAALI!
Director: Quentin Dupieux Production: Atelier de Production (Thomas Verhaeghe, Mathieu Verhaeghe), France 3 Cinéma Running Time: 79’ Lingua. Cast: Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Édouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Pio Marmaï, Didier Flamand, Romain Duris
Eclectic, eccentric, and grotesque, Quentin Dupieux is a “cult director,” says artistic director Alberto Barbera, “who never ceases to surprise us and make us laugh with his surreal gimmicks and his bawdy, perverse humour. At the Venice Film Festival he presents Out of Competition, his 11th feature film, Daaaaaali!, a biographical comedy about the well-known Spanish artist. Many cinematic works have grappled with the character, most recently Mary Harron’s Dalíland (2022), in which Ben Kingsley and Ezra Miller play Salvador Dalí as an old man and a young man, respectively. It is unsurprising, however, that a filmmaker with Dupieux’s personality might have been attracted to a figure such as Dalí, dreamlike, bizarre and surreal, capable of ranging from one field of creativity to another with nonchalant madness. “As Dalí himself said, his personality was probably his greatest masterpiece. My film modestly tells this story,” stresses the director, and in this case also screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. Daaaaaali! follows the story of a young French journalist who repeatedly meets Salvador Dalí for a documentary that never begins shooting. In the film, whose cast includes Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Édouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Pio Marmaï, Didier Flamand, and Romain Duris, the famous artist is played by four different actors who switch roles depending on the scenes. “To write and direct this tribute,” Dupieux explains, “I connected with Salvador Dalí’s cosmic consciousness and let myself be guided with my eyes closed. First, the Maestro ordered me to recruit several brilliant actors to whom he would entrust his character (too complex for one man).” Then a dash of Luis Buñuel, with whom the artist collaborated on a short film, and dreamlike atmospheres complete the work, which the director calls “simply a declaration of love towards this man.” Quentin Dupieux “ironizes the irrepressible narcissism of artists. Irresistible, hilarious, and also has the great virtue of being short,” Barbera concludes.
Vania Amitrano
AMOR
Italy, Lituania. 2023. Director Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri. Non Fiction Durata 101’ Production: Stefilm International srl, ERA Film Distribuzione: Stefilm International srl
“When I see Rome, I see my mother. It’s been like that ever since she died.” is how director, writer and artist Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri, whose main activity is related to the making of short films and video installations exploring different languages and media, presents Amor, a film that is a cathartic tribute to her mother and where she addresses the most tremendous family trauma she experienced.
One summer evening twenty-five years ago, the city was deserted, and the World Cup soccer final was underway. A woman, Teresa, reaches the Tiber and lets herself go with its current. The depths swallow her, and her daughter Virginia, in the darkness of the night, crosses Rome: she wants to find her and save her. Virginia must traverse the depths of the waters, of history, of myths, of misfortunes, and of the vital glimmers of a timeless Rome. So she can see her mother again, emerging from the darkness of the Tiber to fly to Amor, the planet of care surrounded by water, where the streets, squares, and fountains resemble those of Rome, animals are free to roam, and everyone cares for each other. Teresa looks for something, perhaps her two little girls.
“We look at images, but they look back at us too,” explains the director. “This allows us to hold a dialogue with them. It is my awareness of this that drives me to make films. We are trying to put the pieces back together and give a sense to our most intimate joys and sorrows.
In Amor, the moment has come to cross the barrier, explore my own “depths” and those of Rome, penetrate its many-layered skin, enter its belly, plunge into its waters and then emerge free at last from all pain. Because on my journey, I have dreamed of a city that resembles Rome but is not Rome and where everyone takes care of each other unconditionally.”
Oscar Cosulich
