Pablo Larraina I remember from the very high-quality film "Jackie", where there is tone, color, intonation. I also watched Tony Manero, and there is a certain collapse from this work. The Count made a very good impression on me. He definitely, for his “elegant” viewer, who in solitude before watching will anticipate horror, and will receive a black comedy with allegories, almost in the entire second half of the film. My friends didn't like the movie. I’m talking about American friends, they didn’t understand the purity of the camera’s black and white aesthetic work, they didn’t consider the metaphorical framework of the content. Here you need a thoughtful, “sophisticated” movie lover with taste and delicacy. Reflection in the cut. It's an amazing movie.👜 Review written: November 14, 2023, Olya Grinevskaya (Alenushka).
'The Glorious Life of Augusto Pinochet' wrapped in satire and black comedy in the style of ch/b
Augusto Pinochet, the dictator/captain-general/president, is certainly an epochal and contradictory historical figure – in the context of the “dictatorial” twentieth century, of course – and there is always that brave man who can first study, and then tell, and show, and expose this or that figure of world history, for which he is taken; this case was no exception, and such a “dare man” was also found – Pablo Larrain.
Larrain, formerly known for biopics about Jacqueline Kennedy ("Jackie" 2016) and Princess Diana ("Spencer" 2021), on August 31, 2023, at the 80th Venice Film Festival, presented to the audience his vision of the Chilean comrade mentioned in the first paragraph, but it has already become not quite a biopic, rather, "What if?", since in this film Pinochet is none other than ... a vampire. The vampire guard, originally named Claude Pinoche, saw firsthand the decline of the old French monarchical system during the Great French Revolution (and after that, according to the director, he disliked liberals so much), almost personally entangled with Napoleon (but his letters definitely remained), experienced a bunch of different events. In the end, the vampire decided to finally find a quiet, peaceful place where he would live happily and cheerfully, and he began to wander through the promised land until he came across a country located on the west coast of South America – Chile. Before that, the vampire still tried to change his name, which is now known all over the world, but what happened next - history has already told us everything in detail.
The story told, but forgot to add this – “actually”, in 2006, Augusto Pinochet did not die, but only plausibly faked his death (thanks to the vampire gift) to lie low and abstract from the general public, settling in an old shack, a seedy village on the outskirts with his sheds, graves and ... guillotine (very useful in the film) along with his assistant, a white Russian immigrant Fedor (whombite Pinochet in the 90s and now Fyodor wants to become a vampire). From that moment, the picture goes into a state of obvious uncertainty, as we are more than an hour we are shown the disassembly of the children of Pinochet and the division of the inheritance, the colorful flights of the vampire-dictator through the picturesque corners of Chile (the homage to the Nosferat by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau is evident), along the way killing and eating the hearts of the inhabitants – all to quench thirst; and as if the director was rushing from side to side, trying to occupy us, but it turned out, to put it mildly, not very well.
The film is not inferior in wit and originality, satire and black comedy - to listen to Pinochet's reflection and justification about the old times (especially the times of the Chilean dictatorship) was quite funny and interesting, but these things seem to sink in the detachment of the narrative, so it is such a mess on the screen: Larrain needs to have time to show everything, do not miss anything - and even with all this the picture goes 1 hour 40 minutes and looks a little boring, but all these surreptitious moments - it is very bright for the cinematicism, it soon catches up with its brightness, it is a little bit of its beauty, and beauty, it is a little bit of the film - it is a bit beautiful - it is a little bit of its beauty, it is a little bit - it is a jokes, it is a little bit more beautiful here.
In conclusion, I would like to add that although the film is not something truly outstanding or brilliant, but it contains curious reflections on the nature of dictatorship and power and it is worth a look, just to see the director’s witty and original interpretation of life “after”. Augusto Pinochet, although presented in a chaotic form (although many can record this in the merits of the picture, I am not a judge here).
Bet the creation of Pablo Lorrain
The Count is a monochrome Chilean parable about how dictators drink the blood of the people even after death.
The filmography of Pablo Larraina is clearly divided into two similar parts. In English, he shoots a subtle and not always political film, where he is more interested in personality, not processes. For my country, it's just about Pinochet. Larraín was born, married and raised under this Chilean dictator.
Filmed in Spanish and with all the major local stars, Count is no exception. Only now Larraín drifts away from pure social, working in such an important genre for the whole of Latin America as magical realism. The total influence of Borges, a little Neruda and, of course, the direct homages of Colonel Marquez are visible to the naked eye. They are presented in the forehead and recognizable even by an inexperienced viewer.
According to the mythology of the film, Pinochet did not die after his death. He staged a funeral and continues to live on an island near the coastline of Santiago. He is served by a runaway Cossack Krasnov, cleaning the guillotine blade for all the reds in the world, and an old wife, even falling asleep in a fur coat made of expensive fur.
This is real because Pinochet is a vampire. Living since the Great French Revolution and past the crucible of all world uprisings. He fought for legitimate power in Russia, Africa, France, China, and now he’s settled in a new country. Distant, lost at the end of the world, where he became the local king.
At night, Pinochet wears a general's kite and flies under the stars of Santiago, ripping out the hearts of his chosen victims. Sometimes he scornfully notices that he never got a bust on the local walk of fame, and also tracks down those who spread lies about him. The charges of theft are particularly serious. Sometimes he even dreams of a nuclear bomb at the Hague court. Especially when flying on the roof of Villa Grimaldi and looks around the sleeping city.
The Count of Larrain contains all the attributes of the autumn patriarch. The eternal life of a dictator who has conquered death, but who is tired of doing evil, neither pleases nor upsets him. This is titanium in the sunset. A languid genius of villainy, to help which no one is able - neither numerous children thirsting only for inheritance, nor a whore wife who cheats on the general with his own servant Renfield-Krasnov, nor an exorcist sent by the Vatican, only awakening in a vampire a passion for carnal pleasures.
Larraine plays genres and even makes the film black and white, so as not to splash the screen with blood. Or to show Pinochet's world dim after his death. Globally, the main problem of the Count is the metaphors put in the forehead. Even the name reminds us of the Romanian prototype of Nosferatu, let alone how banal we are told about the bloodiness of Pinochet’s repressions.
As a result, “The Count” is the most personal reflection of Larrain about the essence of power, tyranny and its enduring popularity. No matter how society condemns dictators, they will reappear. Arriving on the wings of the night like a saving horror for all who are tired of revolutions and change prefers the notorious stability.
Sentence to evil? No, more like society. Larrain has no sympathy. The film is an easel and the camera is a brush. In the cold-blooded world of vampires, the creator has no other role. The main thing is to find the angle more precisely, so as not to miss the next flight of the next Pinochet.
I loved this movie and I liked it. It really looks like Wes Anderson, who just saw Tim Barton. Black and white sad drama, probably with political overtones. But I didn’t get a specific idea. Everything is fleeting and shaky. I recently watched the Club about the fallen churchmen, so here is probably something like the same. The higher you are in purity and holiness, the lower you will fall if you stumble. And evil, as it was, will remain. Of course, all this social satire with political leaders who were vampires. But it's more like some background fun. More about the weakness of ordinary people. But I got into this melancholy state of ever-dying evil that becomes infinitely vile in people. I wonder if I would agree to be bitten by a vampire. That's probably not the question. Would I be cruel enough to be a ghoul? Or the question is: “Who would not have had enough?”
Plot. Pinochet was a vampire. He faked death. He lives in the wilderness and seems tired of life and wants to die forever. His children and ex-wife, whom he never bit, come to him to share the inheritance. A nun in the form of an accountant comes to banish the devil from the vampire, and at the same time kill him. But an old vampire falls in love with a nun and decides to live more than infuriates everyone and confuses plans.
Best Screenplay Award at the Venice Film Festival.
Satire about the greedy vampires who rule the world
The Chilean film The Count of 2023 was one of the main films of the Venice Film Festival and won the prize for best screenplay.
This is a black and white picture in which the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his biography appear in an unexpected way - he turns out to be a 250-year-old vampire, originally from France.
We learn that in his youth he realized his vampire nature, tasted the blood of the executed Marie Antoinette and for a long time worked to suppress revolutions in different countries of the world. But then he got tired of being a military man and became the ruler of Chile. Years later, he was overthrown and the main action of the film takes place on a small desert island, where the elderly Augusto Pinochet lives out his last days.
The vampire does not drink blood and his only remaining wish is to die. However, his wife wants to prevent this and calls for the help of his five adult children. Both Pinochet’s wife and children are ordinary people, he didn’t turn them into vampires.
Up to this point, the film The Count seems quite fascinating, very original and atmospheric. However, the intriguing first act is replaced by a series of dialogues and indistinct actions of the characters. Viewers are waiting for eccentric conversations, emphasizing the absurdist-critical images of all the characters of this film.
The Pinochet family will be joined by a nun who has come to kill a former dictator and pretends to be a skilled accountant. And most of the talk will eventually boil down to looking for hidden money and property stolen by the dictator during his years in power.
And although in the finale, the audience will see a rather bright twist of the plot, revealing the identity of the woman who commented on this story behind the scenes from the very beginning, The Count will eventually turn out to be a completely colorless statement about the nature of greed. We are presented with a story in which even immortal vampires are petty and obsessed with money - it turns out that they use their power and almost unlimited opportunities only for enrichment. Enrichment through power and power. . .
In general, “The Count” is a film that corresponds to a wave of films criticizing the obsession of the powerful with their wealth, such as “Menu”, “Triangle of Sorrow”, “Do not look up”, “Parasites”, etc.
“The Graf” is a film by Pablo Larraina (Spencer, Jackie, Club) and, like many films by eminent directors that have been released in recent years, suffers from a slurred structure, focus on narrow topics and a lack of orientation to the viewer.
Iñárritu made his Bardo in 2022, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Liquor Pizza in 2021, Sorrentino’s Hand of God in 2021, Almodovar’s Pain and Glory in 2019. All of these films, like Larraín’s The Count, are the films that filmmakers create when they get the chance to make anything for a modest amount and without production control. There are many dialogues, many historical references and many reflections on the meaning of life. But not enough that can make the movie really interesting and meaningful.
The rating of the film "Graf" - 6.5 in IMDB and 6.1 in Kinopoisk. It's a pale film, both literally and figuratively. It has humor, there are witty statements and there is originality. But all its pluses are crushed by the absolutely absurd obsession of the story on the search for hidden money, diluted with atmospheric but meaningless images of vampire flights and their meals.
'Violence is the language of the devil. We will strangle him with God's love.
The Count is a stylish and original political comedy. Alternatively, Pinochet is an immortal vampire, literally sucking the life force out of the working class for centuries. The black and white look of the film resembles a Gothic horror, in which a disturbing atmosphere reigns, despite the clearly comedic tone and bombastic narrative.
The main character takes on the role of a tired vampire who wants to free himself from the stranglehold of his parasitic family until their insatiable greed is satisfied. The Count tells its central character an elaborate backstory reminiscent of a vampire odyssey. It is only when similarities with real life are discovered that the thematic significance of the story is finally revealed.
In the film world, vampirism is not limited to vampires. Vampirism here is a powerful symbol that permeates the whole environment. All characters, from pious nuns and close relatives to cunning politicians and businessmen, embody the traits of vampirism. If blood is resources, opportunities, and hopes, then vampirism is power, wealth, and influence.
The visual palette of the film immerses the audience in a world of sharp contrasts. From striking black and white landscapes to the ingenious use of shadows, the contrast between light and darkness reflects the moral complexities of the characters facing them. Cinematography not only complements the narrative, but also elevates it.
Widely open black and white picture is combined with equally important for the impression and immersion sound. The captivating score enhances the atmosphere of fear and anxiety and highlights key points, heightening tension and adding depth to the characters emotions.
A worthy story, coupled with melancholy camera work and fascinating flight footage with a magnificent black and white picture, creates a real labyrinth of symbolism and allegory that deserves your time.
9 out of 10
Pinochet is an ambiguous figure in Chilean history, and this film is another reflection on who Augusto Pinochet was.
Director Pablo Larraín gives his answer: Pinochet was a vampire. A very unambiguous hint of the regime and rule of this character.
The story begins in France in the 18th century, where we meet a young vampire Pinoche. Having great ambitions and dreams of power, he arrives in Chile and takes the name Pinochet.
After being fed up with everything, the vampire Pinochet no longer feels joy in life, even night outs for blood do not bring the former pleasure.
39: Could you die 39? he said. Well, that the plan is good, and many heirs it would be very useful, after all, the inheritance is considerable.
So, a large family comes together to solve all the problems. From this point, the story becomes dynamic and, of course, everything goes wrong. There are new characters who reawaken love in an already elderly vampire.
The finale surprises with an unexpected turn, and enhances the impression of the film. The film, to put it mildly, is not for everyone. Art House in its purest form.
At the same time, shot in black and white, and some scenes are so beautiful that they resemble the style of paintings by Karl Theodor Dreiser, in particular ' Passion of Joan d' Arc'.
Perhaps only a Chilean could make such a picture, and Pablo Larraín convinced him even more. The idea and the script are really surprising.
And yet ' Count 39 is a strange, absurd picture, while filled with symbolism and a greater degree of irony. Of course, when viewing it is impossible not to draw parallels with real historical figures. Perhaps this is the message of the film - to understand that in history everything is interconnected and finally put an end to Augusto Pinochet.
6 out of 10