A group of several old men and one woman in passionate discussion – what do they have in common? Besides loving their pet dog and having an interest in dog races, there’s also their common living arrangement, a few sins, and excommunication from the Catholic Church. For his uncompromising and provocative film, Pablo Larraín rightfully took the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin IFF.
One woman and several old men of different ages are caught up in a passionate discussion about their pet dog, which they’re training for a track race. Few would realise, however, that these individuals are, in fact, a group of priests and a nun living together in a secluded house tucked away in a remote area of the Chilean coast. Their smooth routine, which involves prayer and the occasional attempt to atone for a few sins, is forcibly disrupted by a new arrival. Shortly afterwards, another man turns up at the house and starts raising his voice, accusing the newly arrived priest of sinful behaviour and impropriety. This seemingly minor incident sparks a sequence of events which irreversibly alters the lives of the unwilling inhabitants of this curious house. Adopting an objective perspective, leading Latin American director Larraín lifts the lid on the Catholic Church but also taps the moral conscience of every one of us. With a show of understanding but without compromise and without affectation, he observes the human weaknesses of his protagonists and compels the viewer to contemplate the way he leads his life.
Ivana Novotná
97 min / Color, DCP
Director Pablo Larraín
/ Screenplay Guillermo Calderón, Daniel Villalobos, Pablo Larraín
/ Dir. of Photography Sergio Armstrong
/ Editor Sebastián Sepúlveda
/ Art Director Estefanía Larraín
/ Producer Juan de Dios Larraín
/ Production Fabula
/ Cast Alfredo Castro, Roberto Farías, Antonia Zegers
/ Sales Funny Balloons
Pablo Larraín (b. 1976, Santiago, Chile) studied audiovisual communications at Santiago’s University for the Arts, Sciences, and Communication (UNIACC) and, after graduating in 2005, established Fabula, a production company focusing on feature films, TV programmes and commercials. That same year he debuted with the feature film Fugue (Fuga), which was also performed as a stage play a year later. Larraín’s next film Tony Manero (2007) premiered in 2008 during Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. His third picture Post Mortem was launched at the Venice IFF in 2010 and the following year it was presented at Karlovy Vary in the Horizons section. The film No (2012) was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Pablo Larraín has been working since 2011 as producer and director on the HBO television series “Fugitives” (“Prófugos”). The Club is his latest feature film.
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