Carlos Saura is a famous Spanish director, screenwriter, photographer. He is the winner of numerous cinematic prizes, the winner of three nominations for the Oscar. Known as a film director who makes extensive use of field shooting. A consistent supporter of neorealism in cinema. Initially, the director had a difficult time, his innovative ideas did not always find understanding among his colleagues, since many filmmakers prefer to shoot their films using old proven methods.
Carlos Saura - biography
The director was born in the Spanish city of Huesca on January 4, 1932. He made his debut in big cinema in 1959, having shot the full-length film "Tramps" in an unusual manner for that time. Then Carlos Saura created a dramatic film called "The Hunt" about three war veterans, occupying completely different life positions. Gray landscape episodes, full-scale shooting and the work of cameraman Luis Cuadrado in emphasized contrast made the picture one of the most successful in 1966, which was confirmed by the presentation of the Silver Bear to the director in Berlin.
A year later, Carlos Saura made another film in the manner of neorealism called "Mint cocktail with ice." With this film project, the director began working with Elias Kerekheta, an experienced producer. The painting was dedicated to the repression of General Franco after the end of the Spanish Civil War. The film is no less dramatic than The Hunt, and in some ways even more cruel. The Spanish director has always been drawn to productions on the verge of “horror movies” - the more terrible what is happening on the screen, the more meaning you can put in the movie.
Bans
Saura Carlos, along with Elias, tried to circumvent censorship and identify the flagrant shortcomings of the Spanish society. They succeeded in staging the films "Nora", "Garden of Delights", "Stress". All three paintings had a touch of surrealism, which helped to mask the sharp corners that the script abounded.
Horror movie
In 1973, the director began the production of the saga "Anna and the Wolves", which describes the life of Spanish aristocrats. The plot focuses on one extremely conservative family living in a large estate. The head of the family and his wife decided to invite a governess for their little daughters. Anna comes to the family castle, which immediately becomes the object of desire of the three brothers living in the house: Juan, Fernando and Jose.
The drama of the plot goes beyond all bounds, the brothers' hypertrophied sexual interest in the governess is intertwined with attempts to comply with the rules of decency. Anna begins to openly mock her admirers. The end of the film is tragic - the brothers lie in wait for their offender on a deserted road, cut off her hair, raped and killed with a shot from a revolver in the head.
Psychology
The film "Cousin Angelica", which Carlos Saura made in 1974, was awarded a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The picture is devoted to psychoanalytic problems when the suffering experienced in the distant past begins to manifest in the present. The fateful interweaving of the present with the past can destroy the feelings that have arisen. Children's love and relationships of adults already Angelica and Luis, dreams and reality are opposed to each other.
In 1977, the director created a film project called "Eliza, My Life", which reveals the difficult relationship between literature and cinema, attempts to resolve the eternal dispute, which is more important, image or sound, music or text. From time to time, the film traces a deep connection between poetry and music. In some episodes, the image is unthinkable without soundtrack, musical composition.
Historical characters
The diary, which is kept by Fernardo Rey, fits into the mainstream of statements, but his daughter, reading the diary, is able to destroy everything. The author refers to a number of sources, such as Pygmalion, presented in the form of an opera performance by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Del Mundo by Calderon De Bark, and The Criticality of Balthazar Grassian. As the leitmotif of the film sounds "The First Gnassienna" by the French composer Eric Satie, who lived in the first half of the twentieth century.
The work of Carlos Saura especially flourished during the emergence of democracy in Spain, a transitional period from the dictatorship of Franco to the rule of law. Later this theme was reflected in the film "Blindfolded", filmed in 1978, about the suffering of the common people in Latin America.
First Oscar nomination
A year later, the director creates his first comedy, which goes under the name "Mom turns one hundred years old." The film received several awards at various film festivals and was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Film.
Director Carlos Saura is considered the most important of all cinematographers in the Pyrenees, he has occupied the chair of the director for more than thirty years. Among his achievements can be noted:
- special prize of the Berlin film festival for the film "Feed the Raven";
- the Golden Bear Prize, also received in 1981 in Berlin for the film Faster, Faster, about the adventures of homeless children;
- the prestigious prize of the British Film Academy for the film "Carmen", awarded in 1983; the film became the second part of the trilogy (after the "Bloody Wedding" and before the "Witching Love").
Filmography
During his career, director Saura Carlos directed about fifty films of various genres. The following is a sample list of his works.
- The Flamenco (1955).
- "Sunday evening" (1957).
- "Tramps" (1959).
- "Crying for a Bandit" (1964).
- The Hunt (1966).
- "Mint cocktail with ice" (1967).
- Nora (1969).
- "Garden of Delights" (1970).
- "Cousin Angelica" (1974).
- Feed the Crow (1975).
- "My Life, Eliza" (1977).
- Blindfolded (1978).
- "Mom turns one hundred years old" (1979).
- "Faster, Faster!" (1980).
- The Bloody Wedding (1981).
- The Sweet Watch (1981).
- "Antonietta" (1982).
- Carmen (1983).
- The Stilts (1984).
- "Witching Love" (1986).
- Eldorado (1988).
- "The Dark Night" (1988).
- "Ay Carmella!" (1990).
- "Seville" (1991).
- "Shoot!" (1993).
- "Taxi" (1996).
- The Bird (1997).
- "Tango" (1998).
- "Goya from Bordeaux" (1999).
- "King Solomon and Bunuel" (2001).
- "Salome" (2002).
- "The Seventh Day" (2004).
- Iberia (2005).
- Fadu (2007).
- Don Giovanni (2009).
- Thirty-Three Days (2013).
- Argentina (2015).
Carlos Saura, whose filmography continues to replenish with new films, is currently working on another scenario.
Personal life
According to the materials of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, director Carlos Saura, who recently turned 84 years old, decided some time ago to open the veil of his relationship with his long-time mistress, Geraldine Chaplin, a British actress of American descent, the daughter of the legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin.
Eighty-four photographs taken by Carlos with his own hands were put on display for a short while. In the photo is the director himself, his current wife Eulalia Ramon, Geraldine, sisters Maria Angeles and Pilar. Two photographs are dedicated to Carlos Saura's elder brother, Antonio, a famous graphic artist and artist.
It is known that the director owns a unique collection of cameras, in which there are about six hundred copies.