A wealthy businessman (José Luis Gómez) stands at a window contemplating his 80th birthday. Yes, he has conquered the business world, but what will he be remembered for? What is his legacy? Perhaps he could finance a bridge, name it after himself and donate it to the state. Or, suddenly changing tack, why doesn’t he produce a movie? One that would be worthy of winning every award. And so begins Official Competition, a merciless, scathing, and utterly hilarious evisceration of the pomposity that is the “Prestige Drama”.
It has been said that no one sets out to make a bad movie. However, there are many, many people who have set out to make something solely for the purpose of courting critics and the Academy. Projects such as these are Vanity projects, with a capital V. You can easily write a cheque to buy the very best talent, or to purchase the rights to a book that you haven’t read –but it won a Nobel prize, so it must be good. Add a “visionary director” –Penelope Cruz as eccentric Palme d’Or laureate Lola Cuevas – who uses increasingly wild methods to get the most out of her actors, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a Prestige Film.
Then there are the actors. Contracted to play the feuding brothers in the fictional film are Spain’s two most celebrated actors. That these two titans will be together on screen for the first time becomes one of the production’s greatest selling points. There is a reason why they haven’t connected until now, however: Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) is old school, an actor’s actor. A product of the theatre and of the Stanislavsky method, a believer in fully inhabiting a role. Opposite him is Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), a textbook movie star who is more than happy just to read the lines on the page. Think what it would be like to spy on Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale on The Fighter‘s set. The right ingredients are all here, but will they come together to be worthy of entering Venice’s prestigious Official Competition? Only time will tell.
What follows during the rehearsal period is cringeworthy comedy delivered as excellent as anything Christopher Guest could produce. For every breakthrough Lola Cuevas and her actors make, their egos (and many, many awards) are there to threaten to derail production.
Cruz, Banderas and Martinez are all perfect in their roles. Their time in the business undoubtedly caused them to work with individuals akin to their characters, and the trio clearly relish drawing on their experiences to satirise the industry. There will not be a funnier film this year for Film Twitter, as everyone will awkwardly recognise themselves or someone they know during the final scene at a festival’s press conference.
A biting satire, Official Competition could ironically become what it sought to make fun of if it is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at next year’s Oscars. Would the Academy get the joke? Only time will tell.
Official Competition is in cinemas from August 26th.