''Neruda'' is a 2016 internationally co-produced

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Pablo Larraín Pablo Larraín Matte (; born 19 August 1976) is a Chilean filmmaker. He has directed nine feature films and co-directed one television series, including the Academy Award-nominated films ''No (2012 film), No'' (2012), ''Neruda (film), Neruda'' ...

. Mixing history and fiction, the film shows the dramatic events of the suppression of Communists in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 1948 and how the poet, diplomat, politician and

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

had to go on the run, eventually escaping on horseback over the Andes.

Plot

After winning the 1946 election with the support of the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

, Chile's president

Gabriel González Videla Gabriel Enrique González Videla (; November 22, 1898 – August 22, 1980) was a Chilean politician and lawyer who served as the 24th president of Chile from 1946 to 1952. He had previously been a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 193 ...

turns against them, bans the party and orders mass arrests. The senator Pablo Neruda, former ambassador and well-known poet, speaks out forcefully against the repression. Warned that he is in danger, with his wife Delia he takes the road through the mountains to Argentina, but they are turned back at the frontier and have to go into hiding. A keen young policeman, Óscar Peluchonneau, is appointed to lead the hunt for the fugitives. He reasons that to catch his man he must first get to know him, so he studies Neruda's life and poetry. Neruda, meanwhile, wanting to mobilise resistance, makes sudden appearances and leaves volumes of his poetry with people. A game of cat and mouse ensues, with Peluchonneau and his police always a step behind. As the hunt gets too close, Neruda's friends arrange for some smugglers to take him over the frontier on horseback. Delia has to stay behind and is questioned by Peluchonneau. She tells him that every story has a primary character, with the rest being secondary, and in this story the cop is secondary. This remark unsettles Peluchonneau, who plays the dedicated cop but has never been sure of his inner identity. She then destroys his confidence completely by saying that in this story Neruda with his poetry and political commitment is reality and will endure, but Peluchonneau is merely a fiction. As Neruda's group climbs slowly through the wintry forests towards the frontier, Peluchonneau follows them but, unable to catch up, lets himself die on the snow-covered mountaintop, after being bludgeoned by his own indigenous companions. Neruda eventually finds the corpse in the snow: Peluchonneau's insecure hold on reality has ended and he has melted back into fiction. Neruda flies to Paris, where he is welcomed by his friend

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and becomes a media sensation. Neruda mentions Peluchonneau's name during the subsequent press conference, allowing him to live on through memory.

Cast

Luis Gnecco Luis Enrique Gnecco Dessy (born 12 December 1962) is a Chilean actor. Besides his work in Chilean telenovelas and films (''Johnny 100 Pesos'', the Academy Award nominated '' No'', ''El bosque de Karadima'', ''A Fantastic Woman'' and '' Neruda' ...

Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and producer. He is best known for his performances in the films '' Bad Education'', '' The Motorcycle Diaries'', ''Amores perros'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Babel'', '' Coco'', ...

as Óscar Peluchonneau * Alfredo Castro as Gabriel González Videla *

Mercedes Morán Mercedes Beatriz Morán is an Argentine actress, known for her role in the television miniseries '' Culpables''. Career Morán has worked in several TV programs, such as ''Donde pueda quererte'', ''Rosa de lejos'', ''Por siempre amigos'', ''G ...

as Delia del Carril *

Diego Muñoz Diego Muñoz Erenchun (Santiago de Chile, February 11, 1976) is a Chilean actor of film, television and theatre. He is also creative director of the fiction area of ''Centro Mori''. Biography He studied at Saint George's College until II ° M ...

as Martínez *

Pablo Derqui Pablo Derqui Maestre (born 1976) is a Spanish actor from Catalonia. An accomplished stage actor, he is better known to the wider public for his performances in television series such as ''Hispania'', ''Isabel'', '' Pulsaciones'' or '' Cathedral of ...

as Víctor Pey * Michael Silva as Álvaro Jara *

Jaime Vadell Jaime Patricio Vadell Amión (born 6 October 1935) is a Chilean film, theatre and television actor. He is one of the most recognisable faces in Chilean telenovelas and cinema, having played key roles in films directed by Raúl Ruiz, Silvio Cai ...

Arturo Alessandri Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma (; December 20, 1868 – August 24, 1950) was a Chilean political figure and reformer who served thrice as president of Chile, first from 1920 to 1924, then from March to October 1925, and finally from 1932 to 1 ...

Marcelo Alonso Marcelo Alejandro Alonso Claro (born 19 March 1969) is a Chilean actor and theater director. Alonso has a degree in Acting from the Theater Department of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Chile. In 1994, he debuted in the ''Champaña'' t ...

as Pepe Rodríguez * Francisco Reyes as Bianchi * Alejandro Goic as Jorge Bellett *

Emilio Gutiérrez Caba Emilio Gutiérrez Caba (born 26 September 1942) is a Spanish film and television actor. Personal Caba is the son of actors and Irene Caba Alba and brother of and Julia, both dedicated to acting too. From his mother side, he is the grandson of ...

Antonia Zegers Antonia Zegers (born 29 June 1972) is a Chilean actress. She has an extensive career in cinema, with participation in some of the most awarded Chilean films such as '' Tony Manero'' (2008), ''Post mortem'' (2010), '' La vida de los peces'' (2010 ...

Héctor Noguera Héctor Eugenio Noguera Illanes (born July 8, 1937 in Santiago), is a Chilean television, theatre and film actor, and also a theatre director. Noguera is the son of Héctor Noguera Prieto (grandson of José Joaquín Prieto Vial and Yolanda Illa ...

Amparo Noguera María Amparo Noguera Portales (born March 6, 1965), is a Chilean television, theatre and film actress. Amparo is the daughter of the actor Héctor Noguera Illanes and Isidora Portales. Her grandfather, Héctor Noguera Prieto was descendant of ...

Ximena Rivas Ximena Luisa Rivas Hanson (born Santiago, August 12, 1963) is a Chilean actress of theater, film and television. Acting career Her career began with one of the most important works of the Chilean theater ''La negra Ester'' (1988), where she p ...

Pablo Schwarz Pablo Alfonso Schwarz Rabinovich (born Santiago, 9 October 1970) is a Chilean actor, noted for his extensive television, theater and film career. Raised in a family of teachers and actors, he began his theatrical career when he was only 9 yea ...

Néstor Cantillana Néstor Igor Cantillana (born July 19, 1975 in Santiago, Chile, Santiago) is a Chilean actor in theater, movies and TV. Life and career Cantillana's grandmother was a communist and later she practiced the evangelic religion and he grew up under ...

* Marcial Tagle *

Cristián Campos Juan Cristián Campos Sallato (Punta Arenas, 31 August 1956) is a Chilean actor and director of theater, film and television. Career He served as Chilean cultural attaché in the city of Washington, a position in which he was appointed by Pre ...

José Soza José Miguel Soza Hernández (born June 26, 1946 in Teno ''Technische Nothilfe'' (abbreviated as TN, T.N, T.H, Tech Nh, TeNo, TENO; ) was a German organisation. It began as a strikebreaker organisation after the First World War, but devel ...

Release

It was screened in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

section at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

. It was selected as the Chilean entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. After the world premiere at Cannes on 13 May 2016, The Orchard and

Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...

acquired U.S and French distribution rights, respectively. It was shown at the

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, th ...

on 4 September 2016 and the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

on 8 September 2016. It screened at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

on 5 October 2016. The film was released in Chile on 11 August 2016 by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, in the United States on 16 December 2016, and in France on 4 January 2017.

Critical response

Awards and accolades

References

External links

* * {{Chilean submission for Academy Awards 2016 films 2016 drama films 2016 biographical drama films 2010s chase films 2010s Spanish-language films American biographical drama films Argentine biographical drama films Chilean biographical drama films French biographical drama films Spanish biographical drama films Films directed by Pablo Larraín Films scored by Federico Jusid Biographical films about poets Films about communism Films about Nobel laureates Films set in 1948 Films set in 1949 Films set in Chile Films set in Paris Cultural depictions of Pablo Picasso Cultural depictions of Pablo Neruda Participant (company) films 20th Century Fox films The Orchard (company) films Films shot in Chile Films shot in Argentina Films shot in Paris 2010s American films 2010s French films 2010s Argentine films 2010s Spanish films Spanish-language American films Spanish-language French films