Carlos Saura: biography, creativity, filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Carlos Saura is a famous Spanish director, screenwriter and photographer. He is the winner of numerous cinematographic awards, the owner of three Oscar nominations. Known as a film director who makes extensive use of outdoor shooting. Consistent supporter of neorealism in film art. Initially, the director had a difficult time, his innovative ideas were not always accepted by colleagues, as many filmmakers prefer to shoot their films according to the 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, shooting the full-length film "Vagabonds" in an unusual manner for that time. Then Carlos Saura created a dramatic film called "The Hunt" about three war veterans who occupy absolutely dissimilar positions in life. The gray landscape scenes, outdoor shooting and the work of the cameraman Luis Cuadrado in marked contrast made the picture one of the most successful in 1966, which was confirmed by the award of the Silverbear" in Berlin.

A year later, Carlos Saura made another neo-realist film called Iced Mint Cocktail. With this film project, the director's collaboration with Elias Kereheta, an experienced producer, began. The picture 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 violent. The Spanish director has always been drawn to productions on the verge of "horror" - the scarier what is happening on the screen, the more meaning can be put into the film.

Prohibitions

Saura Carlos, together with Elias, tried to circumvent censorship and reveal the glaring shortcomings of the Spanish society. They succeeded in staging the films "Nora", "Garden of Delights", "Stress". All three films had a touch of surrealism that helped mask the rough edges that abounded in the script.

Horror movie

In 1973, the director began to stage the saga "Anna and the Wolves", describing the life of the Spanish aristocrats. In the center of the plot is 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 arrives at the ancestral castle and immediately becomes the object of desire of the three brothers living in the house: Juan, Fernando and José.

The drama of the plot goes beyond any limits, the brothers' hypertrophied sexual interest in the governess is intertwined withtrying to keep up 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, rape and kill her with a revolver shot in the head.

Psychology

Cousin Angelica, directed by Carlos Saura in 1974, won a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The picture is dedicated to psychoanalytic problems, when the suffering experienced in the distant past begins to manifest itself in the present. The fatal interweaving of the present with the past can destroy the feelings that have arisen. Childish love and the relationship of already grown-ups Angelica and Luis, dreams and reality are opposed to each other.

In 1977, the director created a film project called "Eliza, my life", revealing the difficult relationship between literature and cinema, attempts to resolve the eternal dispute, which is more important, image or sound, music or text. At times there is a deep connection between the lyrics and the music in the film. In some episodes, the image is unthinkable without sound, musical composition.

Historical characters

The diary 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 Barca, "Criticality" by B althazar Grassian. Like a keynoteThe film sounds "First Gnassienne" 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, the transitional period from Franco's dictatorship to a legal society. 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 comes out under the title "Mom turns a hundred years old." The picture received several awards at various film festivals and was nominated for an Oscar as "Best Foreign Film".

Director Carlos Saura is regarded as the most important of all filmmakers in the Pyrenees and has been in the director's chair for over thirty years. Among his achievements are:

• Special Prize of the Berlin Film Festival for the film "Feed the Crow";
• Golden Bear Award, also received in Berlin in 1981 for the film "Hurry, Hurry" about the adventures of homeless children;
• prestigious UK Film Academy Award for "Carmen" in 1983; the film became the second part of the trilogy (after "Blood Wedding" and before "Witch Love").

Filmography

During his career director Saura Carlos directedabout fifty films of various genres. Below is a selective list of his works.

• "Flamenco" (1955).
• "Sunday Evening" (1957).
• "The Tramps" (1959).
• "Lament for a Bandit" (1964).
• "The Hunt" (1966).
• "Iced Mint Cocktail" (1967).
• "Nora" (1969).
• The Garden of Delights (1970).
• "Cousin Angelica" (1974).
• "Feed the Raven" (1975).
• "My Life, Eliza" (1977).
• "Blindfolded" (1978).
• "Mom's 100" (1979).
• "Hurry, hurry!" (1980).
• "Blood Wedding" (1981).
• "Sweet Hours" (1981).



• "Antonietta" (1982).
• "Carmen" (1983).
• "Stilts" (1984).
• Witch Love (1986).
• "Eldorado" (1988).
• "Dark Night" (1988).
• "Hey, Carmella!" (1990).
• "The Sevilles" (1991).
• "Shoot!" (1993).
• "Taxi" (1996).
• "Bird" (1997).
• "Tango" (1998).
• "Goya from Bordeaux" (1999).
• "King Solomon and Bunuel" (2001).
• "Salome" (2002).
• "The Seventh Day" (2004).
• "Iberia" (2005).
• "Fado" (2007).
• "Don Juan" (2009).
• "Thirty-three days" (2013).
• "Argentina" (2015).

Carlos Saura, whose filmography continues to grow with new films, is currently working on another script.

Private life

According to the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo", director Carlos Saura, who recently turned 84, decided some time ago to lift the curtain on his relationship with his longtime mistress, Geraldine Chaplin, an American-born British actress, daughter of the legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin.

Eighty-four photographs taken by Carlos himself were put on public display for a short time. The photo shows the director himself, his current wife Eulalia Ramon, Geraldine, sisters Maria Angeles and Pilar. Two photos are dedicated to the older brother of Carlos Saura, 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.