''The Weasel's Tale'' ( es, El cuento de las comadrejas, links=no) is a 2019 Argentine-Spanish

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film directed by Juan José Campanella starring

Graciela Borges Graciela Borges (; born Graciela Noemí Zabala, June 10, 1941) is an Argentine television and film actress. Borges was born in Dolores. Having made her film debut at 14, she has acted in over fifty films and was featured in 2006 in ''Vogue P ...

, Oscar Martínez,

Luis Brandoni Adalberto Luis Brandoni (born 18 April 1940) is an Argentine actor and politician. Biography Brandoni was born in Dock Sud, a port community east of Avellaneda. He debuted on the stage in 1962, television in 1963, and on film in 1966. He joined ...

and

Marcos Mundstock Marcos Mundstock (May 25, 1942 – April 22, 2020) was an Argentine musician, writer, comedian, actor, broadcaster and copywriter. He had dual nationality of Argentina and Spain, having obtained the latter in 2012. Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, ...

alongside

Clara Lago Clara Lago Grau (born 6 March 1990) is a Spanish actress. Career Clara Lago Grau was born on 6 March 1990 in Torrelodones, Community of Madrid. Lago made her film debut at the age of 9 with the Spanish film ''Terca Vida'' (2000) (she had prev ...

and

Nicolás Francella Nicolás Martín Francella (born October 22, 1990) is an argentine actor, singer and television producer. He is the son of the famous actor, Guillermo Francella. Career Before becoming an actor Nicolás went through different careers, as creat ...

. It is a remake of 1976 film '' Yesterday's Guys Used No Arsenic''.

Plot

The plot follows four aged people living in an old mansion (Mara, Pedro and Martín and Norberto), all of them professionally related to the showbiz (respectively

lead actress A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typica ...

, bit-part actor,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

) and how they deal with the arrival of the young Bárbara and Francisco, who are

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

developers wanting to purchase the plot.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was penned by Juan José Campanella and Darren Kloomok, remaking the 1976 black comedy '' Yesterday's Guys Used No Arsenic'', directed by José Martínez Suárez and written by Martínez Suárez alongside . A co-production among Argentine and Spanish companies, it was produced by , Telefe & Viacom, Jempsa S.A., Tornasol and Canarias cinema 01, and it had the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

and Movistar+.

Release

Distributed by BF Paris, the film was theatrically released in Argentina on 16 May 2019. Distributed by Syldavia Cinema, it was theatrically released in Spain on 12 July 2019.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an aggregated score of 92% based on 22 positive and 2 negative critic reviews. Adrian Melo of '' Página12'' considered that the film "misses the homoerotic provocation and sexual ambiguity of the original version" offering instead "a fable with too many morals and a whiff of social darwinism". Beatriz Martínez of '' El Periódico de Catalunya'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that Campanella directs "a twisted, bizarre and macabre story where he reflects human miseries". Andrea G. Bermejo of '' Cinemanía'' also gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, underscoring it to be "a black comedy that shines much more in the script than in the direction", also considering that even if predictable, the ending is "no less enjoyable". Jonathan Holland of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' presented the film as a "slickly calibrated, classically structured dark comedy" summing up as a bottom-line "old-fashioned fare with an up-to-date edge".

Accolades

, - , align = center rowspan = "15" , 2020 , , rowspan = "4" ,

7th Platino Awards The 7th Platino Awards honoured the best in Ibero-American films of 2019 presented by the Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) and the Federación Iberoamericana de Productores Cinematográficos y Audiovisuales ...

, ,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

, , Juan José Campanella , , , , rowspan = "4" , , - , Best Actress , , Graciela Borges , , , - , Best Original Score , , Emilio Kauderer , , , - ,

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

, , José Luis Díaz , , , - , rowspan = "11" , 14th Sur Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Film , , , , rowspan = "11" , , - , Best Director , , Juan José Campanella , , , - , Best Actress , , Graciela Borges , , , - , Best Adapted Screenplay , , Juan José Campanella, Darren Kloomok , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Nelson Luty , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Cecilia Monti , , , - , Best Makeup , , Osvaldo Esperón, Sylvie Imbert, Beatushka Wojtowicz , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Félix Chango Monti , , , - , Best Sound , , José Luis Diaz , , , - , Best Editing , , Juan José Campanella , , , - , Best Original Score , , Emilio Kauderer , ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weasels Tale, The 2019 films 2019 black comedy films Argentine black comedy films Spanish black comedy films Remakes of Argentine films Spanish remakes of Argentine films 2010s Spanish-language films Tornasol Films films 2010s Spanish films 2010s Argentine films