When travellers visit ancient ruins in Greece, Turkey or Italy, as they look at the preserved remains, they imagine what they would have been like in their entirety and, above all, how they were used. This is what Alejandro Amenábar recreated in his blockbuster Agora [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] and Ridley Scott in his Gladiator saga, to name two contemporary filmmakers (the peplum genre boasts many more titles), and what Gabriel Azorín now approaches in an independent format. Working without special effects and on a far more modest budget, he instead asserts a high-calibre auteur vision. A member of the Lacasinegra art collective and director of Los mutantes [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (2016) situates Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes in the Roman baths of Bande, built in the first century AD in the Galician province of Ourense, near the Portuguese border. The film had its world premiere in the Giornate degli Autori of the 82nd Venice Film Festival.

A group of five friends arrives at this historic, mysterious site after crossing a marshy landscape. The Roman baths, long submerged beneath the waters of a reservoir, have re-emerged, drawing visitors of all ages, eager to see the discovery. But there is something mysterious about these hot springs, as though they alter people's moods, giving them the courage to speak truths they had never told anyone before. As night falls, they confess their feelings and their fear of losing their best friend forever.

With a screenplay by Azorín and Celso Giménez, Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes – spoken in Galician, Latin and Portuguese – unfolds through minimal action and dialogue that transcends words, carried instead by the actors' glances and body language. Their bodies – not without homoeroticism – seem to have emerged from a film by Derek Jarman or Claire Denis. Here, men (warriors, companions, friends or perhaps something more) strip naked and sink into the warm waters, letting them relax as they meditate aloud on the future, their relationships and their most secret desires. Camaraderie is tinged with love, help and longing across a handful of scenes, paced so slowly that they will be off-putting for audiences accustomed to films full of noise and fury.

With abundant static shots, this bold, radical feature uses contemporary elements such as mobile phones, video games (or their simulation) and apps, while recreating the costumes and mood of ancient warriors. The result is moments of special lyricism, beauty and reverie, born of night, darkness and the steam of a comforting hot bath.

Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes is a Spanish-Portuguese co-production by DVEIN Films, Filmika Galaika and Bando à Parte. Its international sales are managed by MoreThan Films and it will be released in Spanish cinemas by Begin Again Films.