Country: Spain
Year: 2011
Duration: 108'
César works as a doorman in a condominium in Barcelona. Middle-aged and unmarried, he lives with his ailing mother and every day he goes to work, invisible to the eyes of the well-off people living in the building. But, as opposed to them, the man observes them carefully, assimilating their habits and lifestyles, penetrating their lives and learning every detail about them. In particular, he concentrates his attention on Clara, who has recently moved into an apartment on the fifth floor and whose positive outlook sparks César’s repressed dissatisfaction, making her the perfect victim. “I decided that this story was going to be my next film because it posed a challenge for me: to play with the suspense at both ends of the spectrum; in favour of the victim as well as her tormentor. What really fascinated me about this story was that it was basically a fairy tale (a cruel and monstrous character who lies in wait for the pure and innocent victim) reformulated for an adult audience and very, very wicked. I’ve always been scared of what could be going on around me while I’m asleep.”
Biography
film director
Jaume Balagueró
(Lleida, Spain, 1968) debuted in directing with Alicia, winning the award for best short film at the Sitges Film Festival. His first feature-length film, Nameless (1999), screened at various festivals, including the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film and the Fantafestival in Gérardmer, where he received the Golden Meliés awarded by the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation for best European film. In 2006, he participated in Venice out of competition with To Let, a film from the horror TV series Films To Keep You Awake. The next year, he returned to the Lido with [Rec], which was followed in 2009 by [Rec]², winner of the Ben & Jerry’s Award at the Sitges Film Festival. The series has another film, REC 4: Apocalypse, followed by Muse (2017), which premeried at Sitges, and The Vault (2021).
FILMOGRAFIA
Alicia (cm, 1994), Días sin luz (cm, 1995), Nova ficció (ep. La ciutat de la sort, mm, tv, 1997), Los sin nombre (Nameless - Entità nascosta, 1999), Ot: la película (doc., 2002), Darkness (id., 2002), Frágiles (Fragile - A Ghost Story, 2005), Películas para no dormir (ep. Para entrar a vivir; Film per non dormire, ep. Affittasi, tv, 2006), [Rec] (id., coregia Paco Plaza, 2007), [Rec] ² (id., coregia Paco Plaza, 2009), Miedo (cm, 2010), Mientras duermes (2011), [REC] 4: Apocalipsis ([REC] 4, 2014), Inquilinos (cm, 2014), Muse (La settima musa, 2017), Ibai Llanos in Unboxing Ibai (cm, 2020), Way Down (Way Down - Rapina alla banca di Spagna, 2021), Venus (2022).
Cast
& Credits
regia/director
Jaume Balagueró
sceneggiatura/screenplay
Alberto Marini
fotografia/cinematography
Pablo Rosso
montaggio/film editing
Guillermo de la Cal
scenografia/production design
Javier Alvariño
costumi/costume design
Marian Coromina
musica/music
Lucas Vidal
suono/sound
Oriol Tarragó
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Luis Tosar (César), Marta Etura (Clara), Alberto San Juan (Marcos), Iris Almeida (Úrsula), Petra Martínez (la signorina/Miss Verónica), Carlos Lasarte (il vicino del quarto piano B/Neighbour 4th B), Pep Tosar (il padre di Úrsula/Úrsula’s Father), Margarita Roset (la madre di César/César’s Mother)
produttore/producer
Julio Fernández
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales
Filmax
distribuzione/distribution
Lucky Red
