"Close Your Eyes" Director Victor Erice Movies are open to the consciousness of the audience [Director's Interview Vol.384]

The legendary filmmaker is back. Born in 1940 in the Basque Country, Spain, director Victor Erice is known for his masterpieces such as " The Bees " (1973) and " El Sur " (1983), which became hits representative of the Japanese mini-theater boom, and continue to have a great influence on cineastes and creators around the world. Erice is a prolific director who was once said to make one film every ten years, but this latest work is his first in 31 years since " Quince Sunshine " (1992), a documentary film that follows the work of painter Antonio Lopez-Garcia. It is his fourth feature film, "Close Your Eyes."

The story revolves around an unfinished film called "Farewell." 22 years later, former film director Miguel is invited to appear on a television program searching for the whereabouts of Julio, the lead actor who mysteriously disappeared during filming, and he begins to reminisce about the half of his life he spent with Julio. The 169-minute journey is like a triple-topic discussion of "memory," "film," and "life." The film was entered in the Cannes Premiere category at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival, and was also selected as the second best film of 2023 by the French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema. However, the substance of the film goes far beyond such praise. It is a film about a film that is heavily influenced by the director's autobiographical elements - it is no exaggeration to say that it is the pinnacle of metacinema.

I was able to interview the 83-year-old master through email, who has delivered this new masterpiece. I would like to savor every precious word he has to say.

Index

• The idea of a film within a play
• Unconscious quotations and references
• The future is becoming harder to predict
• What it means to be Ana Torrent

*The final chapter touches on the core of the story. Please be aware of this before reading.

The idea of a film within a play

Q: I am really impressed by your latest work. When did this film start and how did it begin?

Elise: "Close Your Eyes" was born from a story I wrote a few years ago. It's about an "unfinished film" whose shooting was halted due to the disappearance of the lead actor and never resumed. The unfinished film didn't have much importance at first, but later, when I thought of including a film director as a character, it became important because this character introduced the idea of ​​a film within a film - another film within a film.

“Close Your Eyes” © 2023 La Mirada del Adiós AIE, Tandem Films SL, Nautilus Films SL, Pecado Films SL, Pampa Films SA

So in May 2021, I invited professional screenwriter Michel Gaztambide (Author's note: A screenwriter born in France in 1959 and based in the Basque Country in Spain. He has written mystery screenplays such as No Peace for the Wicked (2011) directed by Enrique Urbizu and Petra (2018) directed by Jaime Rosales) to co-write the screenplay.

Unconscious quotations and references