19/05/2006

Faithful to his influences (Bresson, Ozu, Pasolini and Olmi), Spanish director Albert Serra this morning presented Directors’ Fortnight with Honor de Cavalleria [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a radical and uncompromising film that totally divided audiences.

An aesthetic work of complete beauty for some, an oppressive open-air theatre for others, if nothing else, Serra’s directorial debut (see interview in making of) succeeded in setting a course as personal as those of its two characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Starring two remarkably directed amateur actors (Lluis Carbo and Lluis Serrat) whose physical appearances incredibly resemble the collective imagination of Cervantes’ novel, Honor de Cavalleria follows the two characters’ hazardous journey through a nature that plays the central role of the film.

The minimalist dialogue and immersion in peaceful landscapes of Spain’s Girona region lends a more than poetic style to Serrat’s film, while the mysticism of Don Quixote’s sweet folly little by little infects a resigned Sancho. Using improbably long shots and not afraid to show the night as dark obscurity, the film also makes the most of the ever-present sounds of nature (the wind shaking the trees, torrential rain, distant bangs of thunder, locusts and crickets) to lead the viewer on a timeless journey beyond a world inhabited by humans.

Produced by Andergraun Films, Eddie Saeta S.A. and Notro Films (also handling international sales and distribution), Honor de Cavalleria was shot entirely at exterior locations on a budget of only €360,000.

(Translated from French)