''The Distinguished Citizen'' ( es, El ciudadano ilustre) is a 2016 Argentine-Spanish

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn Gastón Duprat (born December 8, 1969 ) and Mariano Cohn (born December 1, 1975) are TV and film directors and producers from Argentina. They began their career in TV in 1999, when they created and produced Televisión Abierta, an innovative and ...

. It was selected to compete for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...

at the

73rd Venice International Film Festival The 73rd annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August to 10 September 2016. English director Sam Mendes was the President of the Jury for the main competition. The opening night film was Damien Chazelle's musical ''La La Lan ...

. At Venice Oscar Martínez won the

Volpi Cup for Best Actor The Volpi Cup for Best Actor ( it, Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile) is the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the Venice Film ...

. It was selected as the Argentine entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. It won Best Ibero-American Film at the

4th Platino Awards The 4th Platino Awards was presented at Caja Mágica in Madrid, Spain on July 22, 2017, to honour the best in Ibero-American films of 2016. ''A Monster Calls (film), A Monster Calls'' received the most nominations with seven. Winners and nominees ...

Plot

A recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, who has been living in Europe for decades, accepts an invitation from his hometown in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

to receive a prize. In his country, the protagonist finds both similarities and irreconcilable differences with the people of his hometown.

Cast

* Oscar Martínez as Daniel Mantovani * Dady Brieva as Antonio *

Andrea Frigerio Andrea Luisa Mitchelstein, better known as Andrea Frigerio (born August 30, 1961 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine actress, television presenter, former model and author. Career She began her professional career as a model. In 1989, she began worki ...

as Irene * Belén Chavanne as Julia

Production

''The Distinguished Citizen'' took five years to produce and had a budget of $1.7M US. Screenwriter Andres Duprat proposed the story based on his experiences as an art curator jurying work in small towns. Martinez was an early consideration for the lead and collaborated on the script. He called the fictional town of Salas an uncomfortable mirror of Argentina, and Montovani's exile in Spain reminiscent of

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

's time spent in Europe. Shooting took place over eight weeks, primarily in Navarro, known in the film as Salas. The directors chose the pueblo after considering 58 municipalities, citing the town's historic center, scarce traffic, lagoon, club, town square, and small television channel. Other locations included

Lobos Lobos is the headquarters city of the Lobos Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded on 2 June 1802 by José Salgado. Background Located 100 km from Buenos Aires, Lobos is currently a fertile agricultural area known ma ...

for the flat tire scene, the El Trébol club in

Villa Urquiza Villa Urquiza is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located between the barrios of Villa Pueyrredón, Belgrano, Villa Ortúzar, Coghlan, Saavedra and Agronomía. Its limits are the streets and avenues Constituyentes, ...

for the author's lectures, and the

Teatro Opera The Teatro Opera (''Opera Theatre'') is a prominent cinema and theatre house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Introduction The Teatro Opera (officially called Opera Orbis Seguros for commercial advertising reasons), is located at 860 Avenida Corriente ...

in Buenos Aires for the Nobel awards sequence. A book of the same title purportedly written by the film character Mantovani describing his visit to his hometown was published in Argentina ahead of the film. The directors described the actual but anonymous author as a "heavyweight of the literary world".

Reception

Critical reception

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 13 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Distinguished Citizen, The 2016 films 2016 drama films 2010s Spanish-language films Argentine drama films Spanish drama films Films about fictional Nobel laureates Films directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn 2010s Argentine films