Director Pablo Larraín and Netflix comes through with one of the more bizarre concepts of 2023. A black and white black-comedy about Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, now depicted as a 250-year-old French-born vampire.
In this tale, Pinochet begins his life as Claude Pinoche (Jamie Vadell), growing up as a child-vampire in a Parisian orphanage, before becoming an officer under Louis XVI and witnessing the beheading of Marie Antoinette. After which he vows to fight against all revolutions. Faking his own death, Pinochet travels the world and as a soldier, fights against revolutions in Haiti, Russia and Algeria, before making his way to Chile, staging the infamous coup d’etat of 1973 and becoming dictator of Chile. Only to (later in life) fake his death once again and live out his existence on a sad little farm as a depressed old man, with his wife (Gloria Münchmeyer) and Russian assistant (Alfredo Castro). All of this is shown as a prelude, told through narration which continues throughout the movie, acting as exposition.
The rest of this film sees Pinochet whining about how unfairly he was treated/remembered by the Chilean people and going on about how he wishes he were dead. His spoiled children come for a visit to discuss their inheritance. And a nun (Paula Luchsinger) pretends to be an accountant in order to get close to the family and potentially kill Pinochet.
Though a good quarter of the movie is exposition, if you don’t know who Pinochet was or a little about Chilean history going in, then El Conde may likely become tedious. One could blame this on Pinochet not being as recognizable of a figure (to Americans) as the focuses of Larraín’s previous films, Princess Diana and Jackie Kennedy. This absurdist comedy about a South American fascist will garner even less overall interest from those not willing to brush up on their history, as the Chilean director helming this project doesn’t seem too concerned with producing a movie accessible to those audiences. Obviously, those who are interested in this section of history will be able to stick with it long enough to get the most out of this satirical material.
In Larraín’s own words, the tone should come off as a mixture of satire and farce. And he does nail that combo. The characters are bratty and narcissistic in ways that are easy to watch in a comedic setting. With stand out performances from Münchmeyer and Luchsinger, I’d go so far as to say El Conde mimics a Wes Anderson film, only bleaker.
The cinematography from Edward Lachman (Far from Heaven, Carol) has this dreamlike/other worldly feel throughout, really emphasizing the modern fable component. There are magical realism sequences which are visually transcendent and an entire mood onto themselves.
Final Thought: The analogy of Pinochet being a bloodthirsty eternal vampire and the fact that the echoes of his ultra-violent regime are still felt in Chile to this day, works very well. The film itself is gruesome, as it should be given that the violence on-screen represents one of the most sadistic men who ever lived. I’ll say it again and again, I’m very happy to see unflattering depictions of tyrants. But outside of just making fun of the man, this movie stands as a cautionary tale about the result of fascism being allowed to fester. Playing with the literal notion that murder keeps fascists young. As thoroughly impressed as I was with the majority of El Conde, the tale Larraín tells is not as interesting as the grand setup would have one believe.
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