Raúl Ruiz (director)

Raúl Ernesto Ruiz Pino (french: Raoul Ruiz; 25 July 1941 – 19 August 2011) was an experimental Chilean filmmaker, writer and teacher whose work is best known in France. He directed more than 100 films.

Biography

The son of a ship's captain and a schoolteacher in southern Chile, Raúl Ruiz abandoned his university studies in theology and law to write 100 plays with the support of a Rockefeller Foundation grant. He went on to learn his craft working in Chilean and Mexican television and studying at film school in Argentina (1964). Back in Chile, he made his feature debut ''Three Sad Tigers'' (1968), sharing the Golden Leopard at the 1969 Locarno Film Festival. According to Ruiz in a 1991 interview, ''Three Sad Tigers'' "is a film without a story, it is the reverse of a story. Somebody kills somebody. All the elements of a story are there but they are used like a landscape, and the landscape is used like story."Klonarides, Carole Ann http://bombsite.com/issues/34/articles/1391, ''BOMB Magazine'' Winter, 1991. Retrieved on 3 June 2013. He was something of an outsider among the politically oriented Chilean filmmakers of his generation such as Miguel Littín and Patricio Guzmán, his work being far more ironic, surrealistic and experimental. In 1973, shortly after the military coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet, Ruiz and his wife (fellow director Valeria Sarmiento) fled Chile and settled in Paris, France. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 14 May 2012.

Ruiz soon developed a reputation among European critics and cinephiles as an avant-garde film magician, writing and directing a remarkable number of amusing, eccentric, complex, and highly literary low-to-no-budget films in the 1970s and 1980s (often for France's Institut national de l'audiovisuel and then for Portuguese producer Paulo Branco). The best known of these often oneiric, fabulist films are: ''Colloque de chiens'' (1977), a short which marked the start of Ruiz's long-term working relationship with Chilean composer Jorge Arriagada; ''The Suspended Vocation'' (1978); '' The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting'' (1978); ''On Top of the Whale'' (1982); ''Three Crowns of the Sailor'' (1983); '' City of Pirates'' (1983); '' Manoel's Destinies'' (1985); ''Treasure Island'' (1985) and '' Life is a Dream'' (1986). ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 14 May 2012. A special issue of ''Cahiers du cinéma'' was devoted to Ruiz in March 1983. ''Cahiers du cinéma'', March 1983. Retrieved 14 May 2012.

In the 1990s, Ruiz began working with larger budgets and "name" stars like John Hurt in ''Dark at Noon'' (1992) and Marcello Mastroianni in ''Three Lives and Only One Death'' (1996). The following year, he made ''Genealogies of a Crime'' starring Catherine Deneuve, winning the Silver Bear at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. A second major French actress, Isabelle Huppert, worked with Ruiz on ''Comedy of Innocence'' (2000), which was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The American John Malkovich acted in the star-studded Marcel Proust adaptation '' Time Regained'' (1999) and the somewhat less successful '' Savage Souls'' (2001) and ''Klimt'' (2006). '' That Day'' (2003) was the fourth and last Ruiz film to be shown in the main competition of the Cannes Film festival. ''Festival de Cannes''. Retrieved 14 May 2012. He also made forays into the English-language mainstream with the thrillers ''Shattered Image'' (1998) and '' A Closed Book'' (2010). In the final decade of his life, Ruiz wrote and directed several low-budget productions in his native Chile, but his final international success was the Franco-Portuguese epic ''Mysteries of Lisbon'' (2010).

Ruiz claimed that he was "always trying to make this connection between different ways of producing: film, theater, installations, and videos" – he hoped his "films would have to be seen many times, like objects in the house, like a painting. They have to have a minimum of complexity." Over the years, he taught his own particular brand of film theory, which he explained in his two books '' Poetics of Cinema 1: Miscellanies'' (1995) and '' Poetics of Cinema 2'' (2007), and actively engaged in film and video projects with university and film school students in many countries, including the US, France, Colombia, Chile, Italy and Scotland. University of Aberdeen magazine, 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2012.

Ruiz died in August 2011 as a result of complications from a lung infection, having successfully undergone a liver transplant in early 2010 after being diagnosed with a life-threatening tumour. The Presidents of France and Chile both praised him. ''Huffington Post''. Retrieved 14 May 2012. ''La Nación''. Retrieved 14 May 2012. The Church of Saint George-Paul in Paris held a memorial service which was attended by many notable friends, including Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Paulo Branco, Arielle Dombasle, Michel Piccoli and Jorge Edwards. Ruiz's body was then returned to Chile to be buried as specified in his will and a National Day of Mourning was declared in Chile.

Legacy

Ruiz's final completed feature ''Night Across the Street'' (2012) was selected to be screened posthumously in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. His widow Valeria Sarmiento, who was also his collaborator and frequent editor for several decades, completed ''Lines of Wellington'' (2012), the Napoleonic epic that Ruiz was preparing when he died and the film was in competition for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival and as a Zabaltegi Special at the 2012 San Sebastián International Film Festival. Both films were also shown at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2012 New York Film Festival.

On 25 July 2014, Serpentine Galleries in London launched "Pirates and Disappearances: A Homage to Raúl Ruiz", a weekend of Ruiz-related talks and screenings. The most complete retrospective yet of Ruiz's work took place at the Cinémathèque française in Paris between 30 March and 30 May 2016. Another retrospective commemoration was held at Lincoln Center in New York City which ran during the week ending 22 December 2016 with Part 2 in February 2018.

The feature film ''The Wandering Soap Opera'', which Ruiz had shot in Chile in 1990 but left unfinished, was completed by Sarmiento and premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2017. Ruiz's feature debut '' The Tango of the Widower and its Distorting Mirror'', filmed in 1967 but shelved following budgetary problems, was restored by Sarmiento for a February 2020 premiere in the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.

A third Ruiz film, ''Socialist Realism as One of the Fine Arts'', is currently being restored and completed by Sarmiento for an official premiere in 2021. Ruiz was not able to give the film a final edit as a result of the Chilean coup in 1973 and it was presumed lost for many years. A fifty-minute rough cut was shown at the Valdivia International Film Festival in 2008, but four-and-a-half hours of footage was recovered from the archives of Duke University in 2016.

Awards

* ''Three Sad Tigers'' tied with three other films for the 1969 Golden Leopard award at the Locarno Film Festival.
* 1979 César Award for best plot for a short film, for ''Colloque de chiens''.
* ''Three Crowns of the Sailor'' won the Perspectives du Cinéma Award at the Cannes Film Festival (1983).
* Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts-Film (1983).
* '' Manoel's Destinies'' won the KNF Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (1985).
* ''Three Lives and Only One Death'' (1996) won the Critics Award at the São Paulo International Film Festival.
* ''Genealogies of a Crime'' (1997) won the Silver Bear at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.
* Chile's National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts (1997)
* FIPRESCI Prize at the Montréal World Film Festival in 2000 "for brilliantly exploring the range of narrative possibilities of the cinema and celebrating and demonstrating the art of storytelling through the ages" in ''Love Torn in a Dream''.
* At the Montréal World Film Festival (2002), '' Cofralandes, Chilean Rhapsody'' won the Glauber Rocha Award for the Best Film from Latin America and a FIPRESCI Prize "for the director's personal exploration into his homeland, using DV in a rigorous yet playful manner".
* Master of Cinema prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival (2003).
* ''Klimt'' won the Russian Film Clubs Federation Award at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival (2006).
* Master of Cinema prize at the Rome Film Festival (2007).
* ''Mysteries of Lisbon'' (2010) won the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Louis Delluc Prize for best French film ''Variety''. Retrieved 14 May 2012. and Critics Award for best film at the São Paulo International Film Festival.
* Posthumous Special Award at the 2011 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Filmography

*'' La maleta'' (1963) – short film lost and completed in 2008
*''Le retour'' (1964) – unfinished short film
*'' El tango del viudo y su espejo deformante'' he Tango of the Widower and its Distorting Mirror(1967) – unfinished and restored for a 2020 release
*''Tres tristes tigres'' hree Sad Tigers(1968)
*''La catanaria'' (1969)
*''Militarismo y tortura'' (1969) – short film
*'' La colonia penal'' he Penal Colony(1970)
*''Ahora te vamos a llamar hermano'' (1971) – short film
*'' Nadie dijo nada'' (1971)
*'' ¡Qué hacer!'' (1972)
*''Los minuteros'' (1972) – short film
*''Poesía popular: La teoría y la práctica'' (1972) – short film
*''Abastecimiento'' (1973) – short film
*''Palomita blanca'' ittle White Dove(1973)
*'' Realismo socialista como una de las bellas artes'' ocialist Realism(1973) - being restored for a 2021 release
*''Palomita brava'' (1973) – short film
*'' La expropiación'' he Expropriation(1974)
*'' Diálogos de exiliados'' ialogues of Exiles(1975)
*''Sotelo'' (1976) – short film
*''Utopia'' (1976)
*''Colloque de chiens'' (1977) – short film
*''Les divisions de la nature'' (1978) – short film
*''La vocation suspendue'' he Suspended Vocation(1978)
*''L'hypothèse du tableau volé'' he Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting(1978)
*''Petit manuel d'histoire de France'' (1979)
*''Jeux'' (1979)
*''De grands événements et de gens ordinaires'' f Great Events and Ordinary People(1979)
*''Images de débat'' (1979)
* ''Zig-Zag – le jeu de l'oie (une fiction didactique à propos de la cartographie)'' (1980) – short film
*''La ville nouvelle'' (1980) – short film
*''Fahlstrom'' (1980) – short film
*''Musée Dali'' (1980)
*''L'image en silence'' (1980)
*''Le borgne'' (1980)
*''Teletests'' (1980) – short film
*'' The Territory'' (1981)
*''Images de sable'' (1981) – short film
*''Ombres chinoises'' (1982) – short film
*''Querelle des jardins'' (1982) – short film
*''Le petit théâtre'' (1982) – short film
*'' Het dak van de Walvis'' n Top of the Whale(1982)
*''Bérénice'' (1983)
*''La ville de Paris'' (1983)
*''Lettre d'un cinéaste ou Le retour d'un amateur de bibliothèques'' etter from a Library Lover(1983) – short film
*''Les trois couronnes du matelot'' hree Crowns of the Sailor(1983)
*'' La ville des pirates'' ity of Pirates(1983)
*''Voyages d'une main'' (1984)
*''Point de fuite'' anishing Point(1984)
*'' Les destins de Manoel'' anoel's Destinies/Manoel on the Island of Marvels(1984)
*'' L'Île au trésor'' reasure Island(1985)
*''La présence réelle'' (1985)
*''Régime sans pain'' (1985)
*'' L'éveillé du pont de l'Alma'' he Insomniac on the Bridge(1985)
*''Richard III'' (1986)
*'' Mémoire des apparences'' ife is a Dream(1986)
*''Dans un miroir'' (1986)
*'' Mammame'' (1986)
*''Brise-glace'' (1987)
*'' La chouette aveugle'' he Blind Owl(1987)
*''Le professeur Taranne'' (1987)
*''Allegoria'' (1988)
*''Tous les nuages sont des horloges'' (1988)
*''Il pozzo dei pazzi'' (1989) – short film
*''Derrière le mur'' (1989)
*''Hub'' (1989)
*''The Golden Boat'' (1990)
*'' La telenovela errante'' he Wandering Soap Opera(1990) – unfinished feature completed by Sarmiento and released in 2017
*''A TV Dante (Cantos 9–14)'' (1991)
*''Las soledades'' (1992) – short film
*'' L'oeil qui ment'' ark at Noon(1992)
*''Fado majeur et mineur'' ado, Major and Minor(1994)
*''Wind Water'' (1995) – short film
*'' Trois vies et une seule mort'' hree Lives and Only One Death(1996)
*'' Généalogies d'un crime'' enealogies of a Crime(1997)
*''Le film à venir'' (1997) – short film
*''Shattered Image'' (1998)
*'' Le temps retrouvé'' ime Regained(1999)
*'' Comédie de l'innocence'' omedy of Innocence(2000)
*'' Combat d'amour en songe'' ove Torn in a Dream(2000)
*'' Les Âmes fortes'' avage Souls(2001)
*'' Miotte vu par Raúl Ruiz'' (2002)
*'' Cofralandes, rapsodia chilena'' ofralandes, Chilean Rhapsody(2002)
*'' Ce jour-là'' hat Day(2003)
*'' Une place parmi les vivants'' Place Among the Living/A Taste for Murder(2003)
*''Vertige de la page blanche'' ertigo of the Blank Page(2003)
*'' Días de campo'' ays in the Country(2004)
*'' Le domaine perdu'' he Lost Domain(2005)
*''Klimt'' (2006)
*'' Le Don'' (2007) – short film
*''La Recta Provincia'' (2007)
*''Litoral'' (2008)
*''La maison Nucingen'' ucingen House(2008)
*''Agathopedia'' (2008)
*''El pasaporte amarillo'' he Yellow Passport(2009)
*'' A Closed Book'' lind Revenge(2010)
*''L'estate breve'' (2010)
*'' Mistérios de Lisboa'' ysteries of Lisbon(2010)
*''Ballet aquatique'' (2011)
*'' La noche de enfrente'' ight Across the Street(2012)

Bibliography

* Translated into Spanish as: Translated from the French by Cristóbal Santa Cruz.
* Translated into English as:
*
* Translated into English as: Translated from the French by Brian Holmes. Translated into Spanish as: Translated from the French by Waldo Rojas.
*
* Translated into English as: Translated from the Spanish by Carlos Eduardo Morreo.
* Translated into English as: Translated from the French by Paul Buck and Catherine Petit.
* Translated into English as: Translated from the French by Paul Buck and Catherine Petit.
* Sections translated from the French by Alan Pauls.
* Selection, editing and prologue by Bruno Cuneo.
* Edited by Bruno Cuneo.
* Translated from the Spanish by Paul Buck and Catherine Petit. Illustrations by Camila Mora Scheihing.

References

External links

*
MUBI's Ruiz page
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120803012735/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/featuresandinterviews/features/gilbert-adair-rubicon-and-rubik-cube.php The rubicon and the rubik cube: Exile, paradox and Raúl Ruiz] 1981/1982 article by Gilbert Adair
Mapping the Territory of Râúl Ruiz
1987/1990 article by Jonathan Rosenbaum
BOMB interview (1991)
by Carole Anne Klonarides
Sight & Sound interview (2002)
by Nick James
Cinema Scope interview (2002)
by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Towards a Perverse Neo-Baroque Cinematic Aesthetic
2004 article by Michael Goddard
Vertigo interview (2004)
by George Clark
GreenCine interview (2006)
by Jonathan Marlow
Vertigo interview (2007)
by James Norton

by A. O. Scott
Time magazine obituary (2011)
by Richard Corliss
Sight & Sound obituary (2011)
by Jonathan Romney

tribute by Adrian Martin

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Raoul
1941 births
2011 deaths
Burials in Chile
People from Puerto Montt
Film theorists
Chilean film directors
Chilean experimental filmmakers
Chilean emigrants to France
Chilean expatriates in France
Chilean exiles
Chilean socialists
Chilean screenwriters
Male screenwriters
Silver Bear for Best Director recipients
Golden Globes (Portugal) winners
César Award winners