Starring: Ricardo Darin, Javier Camara, and Dolores Fonzi
Distributor: Palace Films
Runtime: 109 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2016
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This subtitled Spanish-Argentinian drama is built around the last days of a dying man, who receives a visit from his Canadian friend. The title of the movie (“Truman”) is the name of the dying man’s dog. In the 2016 Goya (Spanish) Awards, the film swept the event by winning five major awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.
Tomas (Javier Camara) decides to visit his long-time friend, Julian (Ricardo Darin) in Madrid. Julian has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and has decided to stop his treatment. He has communicated his decision to family and friends, and not all of them are willing to accept what he has resolved. Tomas and Julian share four days in each other’s company. In the past, they were inseparable friends, and they have found each other again to make one last journey affectionately together.
This is a gently-observed film that could have aimed for sentimentality, but it doesn’t do that at all. Tomas and Julian enjoy their reunion immensely, and their relationship is both funny and moving. The film speaks gently and affectingly to death approaching for Julian, who assumes at first that Tomas has arrived to change his mind. Tomas has come to Madrid to help Julian tie up loose ends, and he communicates to Julian that he respects Julian’s decision.
Julian and Tomas pass time in conversation talking about their lives in the bars and cafes of Madrid. Julian is concerned especially about Truman, his boxer dog, to the extent that he interrogates people who might look after his pet, and he visits his Vet to talk about how much pets will grieve for masters who have passed away. Julian’s concerns about Truman become a powerful metaphor for impending loss. All along, Truman walks beside them, a loyal and faithful companion to Julian. Tomas accompanies Julian as he tries to make amends with people, like his cousin, Paula (Dolores Fonzi), who he thinks he might have hurt or affected in the past.
Ricardo Darin, as Julian, gives a marvellous performance of a man who has lived indulgently and now has feelings of some regret. He talks meaningfully about his emotions with Tomas, and we signs of anxiety behind his resolve. Tomas is a sympathetic listener, and communicates movingly his personal turmoil that a valued friend will leave him soon.
The film captures the beauty and charms of Madrid very well, and it is directed by Cesc Gay to show the power of actors’ chosen words and gestures. Julian and Tomas exchange words and looks that tell the same story, and the relationship between them is developed very movingly. The film is a highly naturalistic and intimate portrayal of a close, meaningful friendship. Four shared days of a dying man are spent in the company of a valued friend, and a beloved dog.
The film’s treatment of mortality is paradoxically comical, and comedy is introduced to make the theme palatable. A funeral home, for instance, is made to look like a high-tech luxury hotel where appropriate technical decisions simply have to be made – and the scene is both satirical and funny.
The film is directed and acted with sensitivity. It addresses fading life, the needs of the elderly, and enduring friendship in a reflective way, and its script is thoughtful. This is an emotionally rewarding movie about a dark topic, but in the last ten minutes two separate interactions occur that pose serious moral problems for Catholic viewers. The film characteristically does not take sides on either of them. It simply presents them as showing the consequences for people in need of decisions that have been made.
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