''The Clan'' ( es, El clan) is a 2015

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 c ...

crime film written and directed by

Pablo Trapero Pablo Trapero (born 4 October 1971) is an Argentine film producer, editor, and director.Pablo Trapero
at the

Guillermo Francella and

Peter Lanzani Juan Pedro Lanzani (born 24 August 1990), also known as Peter Lanzani, is an Argentine actor and singer and former child model. He is best known for his role on the Cris Morena television series '' Casi Ángeles'' playing Thiago Bedoya Agüero, ...

. It was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the

72nd Venice International Film Festival The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film ''Amarcord'' was shown at the ...

, where director Pablo Trapero won the

Silver Lion The Silver Lion ( it, Leone d'argento, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film at official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The pri ...

. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

88th Academy Awards The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Dur ...

but was not nominated.

Plot

The story is based on the case of the

Puccio family The Puccio family was an Argentine criminal family. Three of the Puccios were convicted of four kidnappings and three murders in the early 1980s. Background The family, which comprised father Arquímedes Puccio, mother Epifanía Calvo, and five ch ...

from

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 ...

, that kidnapped four people—three of whom they murdered—in the 1980s. The Puccios appear to be a typical middle-class family from the affluent district of San Isidro, with aspirations of

moving up ''Moving Up'' is an American reality television series that aired on The Learning Channel TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on ...

into upper class. The family comprises Arquímedes Puccio, the family patriarch; Epifanía Puccio, his wife; Alejandro, their eldest son and a star rugby player; Daniel "Maguila", their middle child, who'd left the country years ago and hadn't kept in touch; Silvia, their eldest daughter, a schoolteacher; Guillermo, their youngest son, who is still in high school; and Adriana, their youngest daughter, who is in middle school. At the end of the Falklands War in 1982, Arquímedes, who had been working for the state's intelligence services in operations to capture communist guerrilla fighters, becomes the owner of a small shop, a deli. In order to maintain his financial status, he decides to turn to crime and start kidnapping people for ransom, targeting wealthy families. Alejandro starts to collaborate with his father, by identifying potential hostages, taking advantage of his popularity among friends and acquaintances to not raise suspicion. The first victim is Ricardo Manoukian, a friend and teammate of Alejandro's. Though the kidnapping is successful, Arquímedes kills Ricardo anyway, to avoid any chances of being identified as the kidnapper. After discovering Ricardo has been killed, Alejandro has a bout of conscience, but his father convinces him to keep the secret by assuring him that if Ricardo had been left alive, he would have identified them as the culprits and gotten them all arrested. The ransom improves the Puccios' economic situation and, by early 1983, they replace their family deli with a successful store selling sporting equipment. Alejandro meets a girl called Monica at the store, and, after a few dates, she becomes his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Gustavo Contenpomi, a friend of Arquímedes' who is furious after being deceived in a business deal with entrepreneur Florencio Aulet, contacts the Puccios and suggests they make Florencio their next victim. Instead, Arquímedes and his cronies kidnap Florencio's son, Eduardo; since he is one of Alejandro's friends, and thus he's easier to lure into a trap. The Aulets pay the ransom, but Eduardo has already been murdered, and his body buried in a shallow grave, on an empty construction lot. In December 1983, after the return to democracy in Argentina, Arquímedes goes to visit imprisoned military officer Aníbal Gordon—who had participated with Puccio in the kidnapping of a businessman in 1973—and asks for advice on how to continue with the Clan's activities in the new political landscape. Gordon advises him to lie low, since the military will have more difficulty protecting him now that they've lost control of the country, but Arquímedes does not heed the warning. Alejandro accompanies his youngest brother, Guillermo, to the airport, since Guillermo is going abroad on a sports trip. At the gate, Guillermo confesses that he knows what Alejandro and their father had been up to and says he will not be returning after the tour is over, since he is afraid of what will happen if the family's crimes are discovered. Before leaving, Guillermo begs his brother to get out while he still can. Listening to his brother's plea, Alejandro decides not to join his father in the next kidnapping: that of another businessman acquainted with the family, Emilio Naum. Due to Alejandro's absence, the plot fails, and Naum is murdered after refusing to stop his car when Arquímedes and his goons begin the abduction. Angered, Arquímedes returns home and beats Alejandro, blaming him for the failed kidnapping and accusing him of being ungrateful for all that Arquímedes sacrificed to get him a cushy lifestyle. To reconcile with his father, Alejandro travels abroad to convince his other brother, Maguila, to return to Argentina and join the Clan in their operations. Now, in 1985, the group kidnaps businesswoman Nélida Bollini Prado and keep her prisoner in their home's basement. However, things do not go according to plan: the ransom negotiations fail; Adriana hears the woman's screams coming from the basement and realizes what had been going on; and Arquímedes gets a call from his former military superiors warning him that his stunts have garnered too much public attention, so he no longer has their protection. In August 1985, when Arquímedes and Maguila collect the ransom in a service station, they are arrested by the police, who then break into the Puccio house, free the kidnapped victim, and arrest the family, with the exception of Adriana. The case causes a frenzy among the media, who dub the family the "Puccio Clan". The prosecuting attorney shows Arquímedes the overwhelming evidence against him and tries to broker a deal: if Arquímedes confesses to being the mastermind behind the kidnappings, his family will not be indicted as accomplices. Arquímedes, however, insists that he'd been compelled to carry out the crimes by his military superiors and refuses to sacrifice himself for his family. While his rugby team and Monica believe in his innocence, Alejandro cannot withstand the pressure. After violently arguing with his father in their jail cell (during which Arquímedes goads Alejandro to punch him, so Arquímedes can falsely claim the guards beat him), Alejandro tries to commit suicide by throwing himself off the fifth floor of the Tribunal building while he is being taken to testify. The film ends with a series of texts detailing the family's fate: *Alejandro survived his fall and was sentenced to life in prison. While serving his sentence, he tried to commit suicide four more times. Monica kept visiting him for years, until he asked her to stop doing so and instead move on with her life. Alejandro died .html" ;"title="f pneumonia, aged 49">f pneumonia, aged 49in 2008, a few months after being released on probation. *Maguila never served his sentence, since he fled the country - presumably to Australia, Brazil, or New Zealand - before he could be tried. In 2013, he returned to Argentina after the charges were dropped due to the statute of limitations. *Guillermo was never indicted for his family's crimes. He never returned to the country nor contacted his family, and his whereabouts are unknown. *Epifanía and Silvia were freed from prison for lack of evidence. .html" ;"title="ilvia succumbed to cancer at 52 in 2011.">ilvia succumbed to cancer at 52 in 2011.*Adriana was also never indicted and, after the trial began, her surname was changed, and she moved in with her maternal uncles. After many years, she returned to live with her mother .html" ;"title="n the very house where the kidnapping victims had been held">n the very house where the kidnapping victims had been held *Arquímedes was sentenced to life imprisonment but was eventually released on parole in 2008. During his imprisonment, he studied to become a lawyer, and started working as such after his release. His family never made contact with him after he regained his freedom. He died .html" ;"title="rom a stroke">rom a strokein 2013, in La Pampa, and since his corpse was unclaimed, he was buried in an unmarked, communal grave.

Cast

* Guillermo Francella as Arquímedes Puccio *

Alejandro Puccio Alejandro Rafael Puccio (1958 – June 27, 2008) was an Argentine rugby union footballer and criminal. He played in the Argentinian national rugby union team and became famous because of his participation on a criminal organization dedicated t ...

* Lili Popovich as Epifanía Puccio * Gastón Cocchiarale as Maguila Puccio * Giselle Motta as Silvia Puccio * Franco Masini as Guillermo Puccio * Antonia Bengoechea as Adriana Puccio * Stefanía Koessl as Mónica Sörvick * Fernando Miró as Aníbal Gordon

Production

Trapero initiated the idea of making a film about the Puccios. It was shot between late 2014 and early 2015. Due to the long period of production, the film missed the opportunity to participate in the Cannes festival. Guillermo Manoukian and Rogelia Pozzi, relatives of the Puccios' victims, knew early on about Trapero's intention to shoot the film. They supported the project, as long as it was a serious film, and provided information about the case which was incorporated into the plot. The film was produced by K&S Films, Matanza Cine and El Deseo in association with

Telefe Telefe (acronym for Televisión Federal) is a television station located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The station is owned and operated by Paramount Global through Televisión Federal S.A. Telefe is also one of Argentina's six national televisio ...

and Telefónica Studios.

Reception

The film opened in Argentina on 13 August 2015, to generally positive reviews. It had the largest opening weekend of any Argentinean film in history, with a box office total of 32 million pesos and 505,000 tickets sold between its opening Thursday and that Sunday, representing 53% of all cinema-goers, seven times more than the second most viewed film, ''

Ted 2 ''Ted 2'' (stylized as ted2) is a 2015 American comedy film directed by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild. The second installment in the ''Ted'' franchise, it serves as a sequel to the 2012 film of the ...

''. This surpassed the previous record, of the film '' Wild Tales'' (2014). According to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 1.5 million people saw the film in its first two weeks of release. The film was screened at 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 Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

and

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 perman ...

in September 2015. Both ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' and ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' singled out the arresting soundtrack in their reviews; ''Variety'' called the choice of music "among the film's most unnerving strategies, reminiscent of

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

's ''

Summer of Sam ''Summer of Sam'' is a 1999 American crime thriller film about the 1977 David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) serial murders and their effect on a group of fictional residents of an Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx in the late 1970s. The kille ...

'', in which celebratory pop tunes evoke the era even as they practically serve to encourage the horrors depicted onscreen"; ''The Hollywood Reporter'' noted that the "loud, upbeat songs ... provide a counterpoint ... uggestinghow kidnapping became simply a part of life for the Puccios. It's never clearer than in a daring montage sequence that matches Monica's cries of ecstasy during a bout of lovemaking with the cries for help of a kidnapping victim in the family's home. For these folks, there seems to be a mighty fine line between love and cruelty". The film's success led to a 2015 TV mini-series also focused on the Puccio family, '' Historia de un clan'', starring

Alejandro Awada Alejandro Awada (; December 7, 1961) is an Argentine character actor of Syrian and Lebanese descent. He has appeared in a great number of television series, programmes and onstage. Personal life Awada was born on 3 December 1961 in Villa Balle ...

Awards

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, Golden Lion , rowspan="2", Pablo Trapero , , - ,

, , - ,

2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's '' Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Na ...

, Platform section , , , , - , align = "center" rowspan = "12" , 2016 , , rowspan = "3" , 21st Forqué Awards , , colspan = "2" ,

Best 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 ...

, , , , rowspan = "3" , , - , colspan = "2" , Best Latin-American Film , , , - , Best Actor , , Guillermo Francella , , , - , 30th Goya Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Ibero-American Film , , , , , - , 58th Ariel Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Ibero-American Film , , , , , - , rowspan = "6" ,

3rd Platino Awards The 3rd Platino Awards were presented at the Centro de Convenciones in Punta del Este, Uruguay on July 24, 2016 to honour the best in Ibero-American films of 2015. ''Embrace of the Serpent'' and ''Ixcanul'' received the most nominations with eigh ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Ibero-American Film , , , , rowspan = "6" , , - , Best Director , , Pablo Trapero , , , - , Best Actor , , Guillermo Francella , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Sebastián Orgambide , , , - , Best Editing , , Pablo Trapero, Alejandro Carrillo Penovi , , , - , Best Sound , , Vicente D'Elía, Leandro de Loredo , ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clan 2015 films 2015 crime drama films 2015 biographical drama films Argentine crime drama films Argentine biographical drama films 2010s Spanish-language films Spanish crime drama films Spanish biographical drama films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Pablo Trapero Films set in the 1980s Films set in Buenos Aires Films shot in Buenos Aires Crime films based on actual events Warner Bros. films El Deseo films 2010s Argentine films 2010s Spanish films