Fabián Bielinsky’s sophomore feature was sadly his last; his sudden and premature death occuring in June this year. The Aura, the follow-up to the wildly popular Nine Queens, screens posthumously at this year’s film festival. JACOB POWELL reviews.


WITH A PLOT that any action/thriller director would jump at, Fabián Bielinsky’s The Aura defies simple genre description and opts for the mystique of low murmur in lieu of Hollywood’s manic shriek. His deliberate and muted style is evident throughout the editing, the soundtrack and the dialogue, and creates something beautiful to behold.

If you haven’t seen enough stunning Argentinean landscapes in Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), you’ll now need no more convincing that this is truly a country of haunting beauty which is also producing some fine cinema. But never fear, Bielinsky isn’t all about attractively captured forest paths and cautious stags. His camera is just as likely to linger over a squalid urban factory, a stuffed animal, a beat up old truck, or a character’s face. And linger it does, mesmerising the viewer like the siren’s song that seems so soothing to a weary ear.

Some of the plot points might have seemed wild in an alternative manifestation of the film, but in this unassumingly surreal picture, the fact that the protagonist is an epileptic taxidermist of few words sits just as comfortably as his photographic memory and his interesting mix of awkwardness and audacity. The Aura follows this central character, who, strangely, remains unnamed for the duration of the film, credited at the end simply by his profession: “The Taxidermist”.

Ricardo Darin brings the perfect balance of melancholy and reticent benevolence to this role. The scenes portraying his epileptic seizures are truly something to watch and never overstated. The supporting cast are generally good, though undeniably in his shadow, and occasionally two of the gangsters come off looking like a comic relief duo (though slightly underplayed) reminiscent of Scottish regulars James Cosmo and David McKay in Shane Meadows’ Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002).

Though the story is rife with murder, theft, impersonation and doubling crossing, all this is backgrounded, or rather, used as the canvas on which Bielinsky paints his picture of disconnection – as vivid as his aesthetic is subdued. The Aura puts me in mind of an M. Night Shyamalan film; only one that isn’t so intensely focused on producing a clever twist, and one that also shows an understanding of subtlety.

The Taxidermist wanders around in an almost dreamlike state and this is the lens through which we view the proceedings. During the opening scenes the filmmaker sets up this sense of disconnection by highlighting his marriage difficulties and his lack of social skills. In contrast he displays intense focus in his solitary task of taxidermy and we are treated to a scene featuring some of this intricate work.

The theme of disconnection is again emphasised as he drifts in and out of a fantasy world. These ‘experiences’ don’t seem any more vital than reality. Later he stumbles into situations, bringing these criminal fantasies to life, but still remains unmoved, accepting what happens as it comes, even if the plans don’t come off quite as he envisages – with disastrous consequences.

Conversely, at specific moments, the director punctuates the narrative by bringing everything into sudden sharp focus – sound, shot, expression – only for a few seconds, and he never proclaims “Clear!” before planting his cinematic ‘paddles’. These moments are all the more invigorating for the viewer due to the level of contrast he achieves.

The Aura well exceeded my expectations, though not those of a friend, who found it all a bit slow and excessive in terms of shot length. This film combines a reasonably complex, multilayered plot with an evocative style of understated and melancholic beauty in both visual and emotional tone – with a soundtrack to match. Definitely one film I’m glad to have caught this festival – who knows whether it will make it back to our cinemas over the coming year...