04/07/2008

Bienvenido a Farewell-Gutmann (“Welcome to Farewell-Gutmann”) , the second title by Xavi Puebla (Barcelona, 1969), hits Spanish screens on July 4. It is the most lauded film of recent months, having won honours at the Malaga Film Festival (Best Actress for Ana Fernández and Best Original Score for Mikel Salas) and Rec08 (Best Film). The title makes no commercial compromises and refuses to be pigeonholed in terms of genre.

Co-written by Puebla and Jesús Gil Vilda, the film is partially based on one of the filmmaker’s previous shorts (La entrevista, 1998) and opens with the death of the Human Resources Director of the pharmaceutical company Farewell-Gutmann. This triggers off a fierce battle among his subordinates Lázaro (Adolfo Fernández), Adela (Fernández) and Fernando (Lluís Soler), who each hope to succeed him. The eccentric Luger (Héctor Colomé) is in charge of selecting the most suitable candidate for the position, or the one they believe in at least.

The film is theatrical yet simple in its approach, with few film sets and great emphasis placed on the story and the performances of its excellent cast. Puebla focuses on relations between people in the workplace although, as the film progresses, attention shifts to the inner conflicts caused by the corruption of individuals in their zealous quest for professional success. As pointed out by the artistic team, the film is, in short, “a poetic fable about the maladies of the soul”.

Produced by Quimelca , Bienvenido a Farewell-Gutmann is being released by Aurum on 55 screens.

(Translated from Spanish)