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Arrebato/RaptureROBERTO GIL

October 2013

Ivan Zuluetas rarity transfers the menace ofaddiction to cinema in a brooding and grislypostmodernist act.

Few filmmakers have achieved great artistic prominence with a scant filmography as the

Spanish director Ivan Zulueta did. One of the darkest and less renowned figures of the

European cinema, he is mainly known for designing the posters of Pedro lmodovar!s

first directorial features, "ut it is the film rre"ato#$apture %&'(') which was the peak

of his career. $egarded as the Spanish cult film par e*cellence, it supposed the

consecration of Zulueta, "ut resulted later in a cross he had to "ear until his death in

+'.

Somewhat of an auto-"iographical postmodern essay, $apture shows how cinema can

"ecome a drug for its creators, and even take their lives away. he two main characters,portrayed "y Euse"io Poncela and /ill 0ore, are two filmmakers who love and hate

cinema at the same time. Zulueta depicts in a metalinguistic way a process in which

every creator can "e involved1 a self-destructive o"session with perfection that cannot

lead to anything apart from an eternal dissatisfaction with the pieces of art created.

2os3 Sirgado is a thirteen years old filmmaker going throw a personal crisis, dealing

with his addiction to heroin and a recent "reak up. 4e receives a package from Pedro, an

eccentric director he met some years "efore, containing a super 5 visual-essay with the

findings that Pedro did shooting all around the world.

he images taken "y Pedro interlace with flash-"acks of the first encounter of the two

directors, when they find out how addictive cinema can "e. he structure of the film is

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confusing and not lineal, trying to avoid typical narrative, "ut it sends a clear message to

the confused spectator1 cinema can heal, "ut can also drive you cra6y.

78o you know what to do with a pause9 he pause is the chilles heel:our vanishing

point.; O"sessed with the perfect rhythm to film reality, Pedro finds out that the pause

%in terms of filming rhythm, the slowest form) is a "reath taking phenomenon,something that can enrapture the viewer. If cinema is like "lood for vampires, the pause

is the definitive feast for film-makers, seems to claim a self-refle*ive Zulueta.

he film tries to introduce the pu"lic in this rapture game with some memora"le,

stunning images. he frame a"ove is an e*ample of this. s Susan Sontag drew in her

cele"rated essay 7gainst Interpretation;, art can "e reflected a"out, "ut sometimes it is

"etter

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languages that we do not speak, which can affect us without thinking of their meaning.

Something similar happens with $apture, more so taking into account that it is difficult

to find a su"titled version.

$apture#rre"ato is a ground"reaking film in its forms, charged with pertur"ing images

%2os3 taking drugs, the decoded > "ehind ?ecilia $oth, the character of Pedrohimself)@ of course, Zulueta tried to send many messages with all of these surprising

elements and the sinuous, phantasmagorical, grade =-like story, "ut the search for the

real substanceof the film can "ecome "linding when it comes to en

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