Why we picked it – This eerie conspiracy thriller about the super-rich in Argentina during the junta is an impressive first feature from a Swiss born writer and director
Synopsis – Yvan De Wiel, a Swiss banker, is visiting Argentina with his wife in the midst of the junta’s Dirty War. René Keys, the bank’s previous representative in the country, (who we see enigmatically at the beginning of the film) has vanished overnight. No-one knows why; but there are ugly rumours. Yvan goes to see his well-heeled clients reassuring them, smoothing over the rough patches in preserving their wealth.
The film – This is classic exercise in “showing” not “telling”. Some characters are overheard, or half heard, or glimpsed across rooms in sombre light. As mentioned in the film, “azor” is a Swiss-French dialect word for “be quite, be careful what you say”. Fabrizio Rongione is the banker Yvan De Wiel, dapper and circumspect, though his smile becomes eroded by fear. Stéphanie Cléau, is his wife Ines, soignée throughout. Best and scariest of all is Monseigneur Tatoski (Pablo Torre Nilsson), the grizzled church elder to whom Yvan is introduced at a gentleman’s club, amid “the cream of the junta.”
Director: Andreas Fontana: Writers: Andreas Fontana, Mariano Llinas; Cinematography: Gabriel Sandru. Argentina 2021 100 mins 12A