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Preview by: Jack Foley
SYNOPSIS: Rafael Belvedere (Ricardo Darín) is not
happy with the life he leads. He can't communicate with life and
with those close to him as, he never has the time. He's always
switching on the television and comforts himself by watching old
episodes of his favorite show: El Zorro.
At 42, he doesn't look at all like his fiction hero, Diego de
la Vega. Those childhood years when he put on the black cape,
the mask, and pretended to be him are long gone. The reality is
much more complicated.
He feels that he can't reach anybody's expectations. He has no
ideals, has a divorce behind him and only lives for the restaurant
his father founded (Héctor Alterio).
He hasn't even taken time to watch his daughter, Vicky (Gimena
Nóbile) grow up. He has no friends and prefers to avoid
any commitment with his girlfriend (Natalia Verbeke). Furthermore,
he hasn't seen his mother in a year (Norma Aleandro), which suffers
from Alzheimer's and lives in a rest home.
Rafael just wants to be left alone. He can't cope with everything
and it seems his efforts aren't enough for anyone. But a series
of unexpected events make Rafael take a look at his situation.
He'll take into account the possibility of selling the family
restaurant, he'll meet again with an old childhood friend, Juan
Carlos (Eduardo Blanco) who, despite having a personal tragedy
on his shoulders, will help him in a very particular way to reconstruct
his past and recover his present.
And along the way, he'll support his father to fulfill his mother's
dream: get married in a church.
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THE ORIGIN - FIRST, THE CHARACTER WAS BORN. THEN, THE STORY:
It had been a while that Juan José Campanella and Fernando
Castets - co-writers of El mismo amor la misma lluvia (The
Same Love, the Same Rain) (1999), and Culpables (Guilty)
- were obsessed with a character that was unhappy with his life,
that had been through several failures, had pending dreams, and
whose desire was to get away from everything. Based on this obsession
they created Rafael.
Although they had a character, they were missing a story. "One
day", said Campanella, "my father told me he wanted
to marry my mother in a church, who suffers from Alzheimer's.
Those contradicting objectives, the simplicity of the goals,
so outstanding and strong were the origin of the screenplay. Starting
from there, we started creating all the characters and situations."
The keys to define each character's profile required affinity
regarding sense of humor and tone of performance.
This is how Ricardo Darín, Norma Aleandro, Héctor
Alterio, and Eduardo Blanco were selected. The rest of the roles
were selected through exhaustive casting.
A SPECIAL DAY (1440)
For one day, the Moran Club in the Agronomia neighbourhood was
turned into a set on location to film a movie in which Juan Carlos
(Eduardo Blanco) works as an extra.
In the scene, Rafael (Ricardo Darín) visits his childhood
friend on the set. During filming, while Dodi (Adrian Suar), the
director of the movie tries to calm down a nervous Alfredo Alcon
who forgets his lines, Juan Carlos decides to confess a secret
to Rafael, which upsets him.
The idea for this scene came up during the shooting of "El
Mismo Amor, La Misma Lluvia" (The Same Love, the Same Rain)
when Ricardo Darín and Eduardo Blanco started to improvise
two extras trying to hog the camera. This situation caused everyone
to laugh. From this experience, Juan José Campanella and
Fernando Castets decided to create Juan Carlos, and tell this
story in fiction in "El Hijo de la Novia" (Son of the
Bride).
Campanella tells us however, that this scene made no sense if
it didn't include one of the most important actors in the country.
"Alfredo Alcon was already in the script. He was modest enough
to accept a part that basically plays with the imaginary behavior
one thinks a star has. Adrian, for the same reason, had to be
the director. They're very important figures that contrast with
the background situation that Darin's and Blanco's characters
go through in fiction".
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