| The Dark Side of the Heart | |
| Director: | Eliseo Subiela |
| Producer: | Suzanne Dussault Roger Frappier Susana Serebrenik Fernando Sokolowicz |
| Starring: | Darío Grandinetti Sandra Ballesteros Nacha Guevara |
| Music: | Mário Clavel Osvaldo Montes Chico Novarro Fito Páez |
| Cinematography: | Hugo Colace |
| Editing: | Marcela Sáenz |
| Runtime: | 127 minutes |
| Country: | Argentina |
| Language: | Spanish |
The Dark Side of the Heart (Spanish; Castilian: '''El lado oscuro del corazón''') is a 1992 Argentine surrealist romantic drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela.[1] The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[2] [3] It is currently considered a cult film.[4]
Oliverio (Grandinetti), a Bohemian poet, travels through Buenos Aires with his friends, harassed by Death, looking for a woman capable of “flying”. In the course of the film, the poetry of Mario Benedetti, Juan Gelman and Oliverio Girondo is seen intermingled with the thickest places of Argentine and Uruguayan artistic daily life. From the barbecue, to the battered bars of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the main character's thought is intermittently intertwined with fiction, only to be able to better show the central character's thinking.
The story unfolds in the comings and goings of Oliverio, through his world, in which, exchanging food for poetry, or asking for coins on street corners, seeing Mario Benedetti reciting his poems in German, seeing Genetic sculptures, talking to cows, and conversing with death seem to be part of any given day in the life of a poet.
Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival
Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences Awards
43rd Berlin International Film Festival
Cinoche International Film Festival of Baie-Comeau
Festival du film de Sept-Îles
Silver Condor, Argentine Film Critics Association
Sin Cortes Awards
Argentores Awards
A sequel titled The Dark Side of the Heart 2 was released on July 5, 2001. A Spanish-Argentine co-production, it was again written and directed by Eliseo Subiela, with Darío Grandinetti and Sandra Ballesteros reprising their roles from the original film. The supporting cast includes Ariadna Gil, Manuel Bandera, Carolina Pelleritti and Nacha Guevara.