28/08/2003 - The Chilean director goes back to the noir feel of the ‘50s. Miles Davis and Sartre, with Trenet and Prévert suffering from writers’ block and mixed together with murderers

Une place parmi les vivants by Raoul Ruiz, presented yesterday in the Controcorrente section at Venice, is a Faustian tale set in France in the noir atmosphere of the '50s.
The prolific Chilean director, who has been living in Europe for many years now, has come back to tackle the themes that are near and dear to him: evil and existentialism, criminal psychology and the nature of lies. These issues are set in a backdrop of a Paris that no longer exists and resound to the memory of two particular people, Miles Davis and Sartre on the one hand, Trenet and Prévert on the other.
A writer suffering from a lack of inspiration is contacted by a serial killer who asks the writer to tell his story: it’s a pact with the devil, but the devil is none other than a writer, who is also suffering from a creative block, who asks for an immaginary biography of the crimes the serial killer would liked to have commited.

"I like mixing high-brow material with junk" says the director with his customary verve, "I make very economic films and I manage to keep my freedom. I shot this film in Romania, with a crew who came from the old Soviet training ground: economy is a matter of style".
Une place parmi les vivants is produced by Alizes Film and Arte France, with sales being overseen by Roissy Films, but Ruiz is already looking to the future: a film with a reality show structure, set in Montreal.

(Translated from Italian)