Bardo, false chronicle… | Alejandro González Iñárritu: return to oneself

Twenty-two years later loves perrosthe director of birdman and of the Revenant returned to Mexico, his country of origin, to shoot his most personal film there. Maintenance.

Marc-Andre Lussier

The Press

After the Revenantwhich earned him his second Oscar for directing (only a year after the one obtained thanks to birdman), Alejandro González Iñárritu designed Carne y Arena, a striking virtual reality installation, in which the viewer was immersed in the hell of refugee immigrants. Without this project, Bardo, false chronicle of some truths probably wouldn’t exist.

“It was a very important trigger”, confided the Mexican-American filmmaker during a telephone interview granted to The Press Monday. “This virtual installation has traveled to several cities [elle fut en outre présentée à Montréal à Arsenal art contemporain], but its very nature meant that relatively few people were able to experience it. I had interviewed over 500 immigrants for this project. They all told me their story, sometimes similar, often different from mine. That said, I could emotionally identify with them so much that I felt the need to return to my own story, in the form of a feature film. »

In the unconscious of an alter ego

Bardo, false chronicle of some truths has nothing of the realistic drama, however, quite the contrary. The director of babel plunges into the unconscious of a Mexican alter ego, journalist and documentary filmmaker who has lived in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. The latter must return to Mexico to attend a party organized in his honor, during which he will be awarded a prestigious prize. Played by Daniel Giménez Cacho, actor seen in particular in Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuaron) and The bad education (Pedro Almodóvar), Silverio, who leads a brilliant career in the United States, finds himself in the midst of an existential crisis. He is torn both by memories of an intimate nature and those linked to Mexico’s collective history. As a result, Iñárritu offers us the most explosive of his feature films, the most personal too.

“I could probably have made another kind of film, easier to access, more mainstream and less risky, but there, perhaps because of my age [59 ans] and the state in which the world finds itself at present, I wanted to tackle more personal themes. The more time passes, the more we become nostalgic, especially when we have lived far from our roots. There also comes a time when we think about what we have become. It’s like a sort of balance sheet. »

The choice to make a journalist out of his alter ego is not innocent. Alejandro González Iñárritu believes that a parallel can very well be drawn between a reporter and a filmmaker, especially since, according to him, the line is becoming increasingly blurred between fiction and reality.

” If I do babel Where Biutifulor if I embark on a project like Carne y Arena, I have to do some journalistic research. I then meet people, I interview them trying to find as much truth as possible. Then, I betray this reality with fiction, which seeks to reach a kind of supreme truth in emotion. »

For his first feature film shot in his country of origin since loves perroswhich revealed it in 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival (where it won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize), Alejandro González Iñárritu evokes the state of mind of Mexico, deeply imbued with a culture where dreamlike and surreal accents are highlighted.

“For people who might not be familiar with the storytelling traditions of Mexican culture, it’s worth pointing out how complex and rich this culture is,” he says. In literature, in cinema, in the arts in general, this effervescence has liberated our subconscious in a substantial way. My film strongly echoes this. »

A slightly shorter version

The world premiere of Bardo, false chronicle of some truths took place at the Venice Film Festival in early September. Since this presentation, the feature film, which was almost three hours, has been shortened by 15 minutes. Alejandro González Iñárritu took the initiative to make some adjustments.

“I had finished the film barely two days before presenting it in Venice and I was then able to see it for the very first time with an audience. I was able to easily detect places that could be tightened up better, without taking anything away from the essence of a scene. I reworked the edit, which I would do indefinitely if I had the chance because I love this process. When you have a specific deadline to respect, a presentation date at a festival or a release date, you obviously have to stop at some point. bardo is intact in its new version, it is now just a bit “cleaner”. Putting an end to a film will always look like a compromise to me. However, you have to let it go, knowing that nothing will ever be perfect. »

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s return to cinema after a seven-year absence comes at a time when distribution methods have radically changed. Like Romeof his compatriot Alfonso Cuarón, Bardo, false chronicle of some truths carries the Netflix label. The dreamlike fresco will be able to be seen on the big screen in most territories (including Quebec), but it will not be entitled to traditional distribution in the major exhibition chains.

“The good news is that Netflix has accepted that it be presented in a circuit of 500 screens in Mexico, where it has already been showing for two weeks, specifies the filmmaker. In the United States, Canada and several European countries, the film can be seen on the big screen for a few weeks before being uploaded to the platform. I’m lucky that bardo be seen as a cinematic experience that deserves to be seen on the big screen. »

And what do you do after investing yourself in such a personal work?

” Frankly I do not know. I rarely go after a subject. Usually, this is the subject that imposes itself on me. There is undoubtedly something that will come to me! »

Bardo, false chronicle of some truthshits theaters in Quebec on November 18. It will be available on Netflix on December 16.