A scene: Pablo Neruda crosses the Andes Cordillera, on horseback, in the snow. The spectator observes the poet in his mythical exile, chased by a strange bird, the commissioner Oscar Peluchonneau, also narrator. It’s actor Gael García Bernal.
A whimsical and contrasting portrait
In this “fake biopic”, Chilean director Pablo Larraín focuses on the dream rather than a classic narrative. He paints a whimsical and contrasting portrait, which balances between “Pablo” and “Neruda”, statue of the commander, irascible, sensitive, enjoyable, brilliant … remarkably camped out by Luis Gnecco. Neruda, the communist senator, the hired poet, the future Nobel prize for literature is, in 1948, forced to flee Chile to gain Argentina, while the president González Videla expels the communists from the government before banning their party.
Larraín has fun, plays with the codes of the genre and takes us to this page of Chilean history. It’s funny, it’s surprising, it’s beautiful. And like his pursuer, we effortlessly follow suit with the fragile titan.
Arte11:15 p.m.
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