Lone Scherfig directs this adaptation of Hernán Rivera Letelier’s novel, set in the 1960s, in the Atacama Desert, in which a young woman tears up the films of those who can’t afford a movie ticket.
‘The Movie Accountant’ is the title of a 2009 book by Hernán Rivera Letelier, who grew up and worked for years in the mining community of Chile’s Atacama Desert. Now it comes in the form of a Spanish-Chilean co-production by Danish director Lone Scherfig (“An Education”) and an adaptation by Brazilian Walter Salles (winner of two BAFTAs for “Motorcycle Diaries” in 2005 and “Central Station of Brazil’ in 1999) and the Spaniard Rafa Russo (‘Rain in the shoes’). The Argentine-French actress Bérénice Bejo, nominated for an Oscar for ‘The Artist’ (2001) and the Spanish winner of two Goya awards Antonio de la Torre form the leading couple, with Daniel Brühl, Sara Becker and the young Alondra Valenzuela who the cast.
Set in the 1960s in the Atacama Desert, Bejo takes on the role of María Magnolia, a woman who manages to maintain her creative concerns despite the harsh living conditions. His passion for cinema will be passed on to his daughter, María Margarita (Sara Becker), who will become the film accountant of the city, where most of them cannot afford a cinema ticket. His talent and passion soon reach beyond his impoverished family circle to reach the entire community. People listen with pleasure and amusement to María Margarita, to forget the hard routines in the saltpeter fields. The story unfolds hand in hand with relevant cultural and political events in the city’s history, such as the arrival and success of the cinematographic exhibition, followed by its decline with the rise of television. Reflecting the political changes that took place during the time of Frei, Allende and the arrival of Pinochet, the film relives the decline of the historic saltpe term cities of northern Chile and reveals the priceless memories buried deep in our historical roots; we are taught how all the dreams and hopes of ordinary people are ultimately subjected to the tyranny of fate. By telling and reinventing the stories she has seen on screen, María Margarita will inspire her people with hope and reflect her own struggles through fiction, turning film storytelling into an art.
‘The Film Accountant’ is a book that has been trying to get on screen for years. Initially Isabel Coixet’s name was in the credits as a director, but in the end the Danish Lone Scherfig is the Danish Lone Scherfig, although the film is spoken in Spanish. In addition to directing ‘An Education’, which won the Audience Award at Sundance and was nominated for three Oscars and eight BAFTAs, he also wrote and directed ‘The Kindness of Strangers’ and ‘Italian for Beginners’. About ‘The Film Accountant’, the Danish filmmaker told Variety that “it reflects the magical role of narration on stage and on the big screen, as a window to the world, a place of healing and uniting people”.
“The extraordinary cast has given the film a lot of sensitivity, humor, deeply moving moments and great nuance. For example, the locations recreated an entire mining town, so the film takes us back to Chile in the 1960s. At one end of the town was the mine, which witnessed the hard life of the families who lived there; on the other side a huge white cinema, which fed his fantasies, dreams and love life. The movies that have come to town, from “The Apartment” to “Spartacus,” have inspired our cinematic language, but more importantly, our goal is to do justice to the novel, script and story rooted in reality. . This should be a movie that the characters, a movie-loving mining family, want to flee to on a Sunday afternoon,” says Lone Scherfig.
The film is produced by A Contracorriente Films, Selenium Films, Altiro Films and Contadora Films AIE. It has the participation of ICAA, ICEC, Ibermedia Program, the participation of RTVE, TVC, HBOMax, Euskaltel-Telecable and will be distributed in cinemas by A Contracorriente Films.
Source: La Verdad
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