''Kékszakállú'' ( en, Bluebeard) is a 2016 Argentine

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 ...

written and directed by Gastón Solnicki.Diana Sanchez,
Kékszakállú
" Toronto International Film Festival, 19 September 2016. It was screened in the

Orizzonti '' Orizzonti'' is a section of the Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic ...

section at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. It is Solnicki's first narrative feature, after his previous documentary films ''Süden'' and ''Papirosen''. The film chronicles the coming-of-age of a group of female teenagers in Argentina, not quite knowing what to do with their future. It is only very loosely inspired by ''

Bluebeard's Castle ''Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' ( hu, A kékszakállú herceg vára, link=no, or ''The Blue-Bearded Duke's Castle'') is a one-act expressionist opera by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The libretto was written by Béla Balázs, a poet and friend of t ...

'', the Hungarian one-act opera by Béla Bartók and

Béla Balázs Béla Balázs (; 4 August 1884 in Szeged – 17 May 1949 in Budapest), born Herbert Béla Bauer, was a Hungarian film critic, aesthetician, writer and poet of Jewish heritage. He was a proponent of formalist film theory. Career Balázs was th ...

. Solnicki said that he wanted to attain the "atmosphere and horror" of the original opera, yet with his own characters.

Plot

The film observes a group of adolescent girls—unnamed to the audience—on the brink of adulthood. They are first seen vacationing in

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, before returning home to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina. The main character (Laila Maltz) still lives with her father, and after some hesitation takes up a small-time job in his

Styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrie ...

factory. She is reluctant to engage with the work, however, and spends most of her time in the company of her friends, as well as searching for an appropriate field of study. The friends are also evaluating different educational options, and at one point eat an octopus dinner together. After an

ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

in the narrative, the film sees Laila abandoning her homestead on a ferry heading for

Chuy Chuy () is a city in the extreme east of Uruguay, in the Rocha Department, northeast of Montevideo. It lies on the border with Brazil, separated from its Brazilian sister town of Chuí only by a shared avenue that serves as the border, and by th ...

, Uruguay.

Production

The film is a very loose adaptation of the one-act opera ''

'' ( hu, A kékszakállú herceg vára) by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, with the '' libretto'' adapted by

from the

folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally. Folktale may also refer to: Categories of stories * Folkloric tale from oral tradition * Fable (written form of the a ...

Bluebeard "Bluebeard" (french: Barbe bleue, ) is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. The tale tells the s ...

" by 17th-century French writer Charles Perrault. ''Kékszakállú'' has few similarities with the narrative of the opera, as Solnicki was not interested in "matching" the characters or "imitating the story", preferring rather to find the "cinematic materials" in the opera. Solnicki commended Bartók's audacity in adapting the structure of Perrault's tale to his own needs, noting that in Bartók's version, Bluebeard is "not the monster but the victim." Solnicki has also cited as an influence

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

's ''noir''-adaptation of the folktale '' Secret Beyond the Door...'' (1948), which the main character watches in the beginning of the film. He used a 40 mm lens and direct sound to capture the ambience of the character's existence, maintaining that it was "

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

’s favorite lens for shooting a man on a horse".Nicolas Rapold,
Venice Interview
" ''

Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

'', 5 October 2016.

Reception

The film was released to critical acclaim at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. It was in particular praised for its minimalist and elliptical approach to narrative, and comparisons were made to other Argentine directors, such as

Lucrecia Martel Lucrecia Martel (born December 14, 1966) is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer whose feature films have frequented Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and many other international film festivals. Film scholar Paul Julian Smith w ...

, Martín Rejtman and

Lisandro Alonso Lisandro Alonso (born 2 June 1975) is an Argentine film director and screenwriter. He has directed six feature-length films and a short film since 2001 and is loosely associated with the ''New Argentine Cinema'' movement. His film '' La libertad ...

.Forrest Cardamenis,
#NYFF 2016: ''Kékszakállú''
" ''

Brooklyn Magazine ''Brooklyn Magazine'' is an online news magazine, focusing on "New York’s most populous borough through the lens of culture, community, commerce, arts and leisure." The company was bought by Michael Bassik and the website was launched in Decembe ...

'', 3 October 2016. * José Teodoro,
Kékszakállú (Gastón Solnicki, Argentina)
" ''Cinema Scope'' (69), 2016. * Jeff Reichert,
Curiouser and Curiouser
" ''Reverse Shot'', 21 July 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kekszakallu 2016 films 2016 drama films Argentine drama films 2010s Spanish-language films Films based on works by Charles Perrault Argentine coming-of-age films 2010s Argentine films