''Official Competition'' () is a 2021 Spanish-language

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Gastón Duprat Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) * Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

and

Mariano Cohn Mariano is a masculine name from the Romance languages, corresponding to the feminine Mariana. It is an Italian, Spanish and Portuguese variant of the Roman Marianus which derived from Marius, and Marius derived from the Roman god Mars (see als ...

, from a screenplay by Duprat, Cohn and Andrés Duprat. It stars

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Prolific in Spanish and English-language films, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, a David di Donatello and three Goya Awards. Cru ...

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award ...

and Oscar Martínez.

Plot

On his 80th birthday, Humberto Suárez, an ageing multi-millionaire, wonders about his legacy and considers financing the construction of a bridge. Instead, he decides to finance a film so that people will look fondly upon his legacy. He selects the reclusive

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

laureate Lola Cuevas to be the director, with the screenplay being adapted from a

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning novel titled ''Rivalry'' about a man who is unable to forgive his brother for killing their parents in a drunk-driving incident. The two brothers are to be played by acclaimed stage actor Iván Torres and celebrity actor Félix Rivero; Iván is a

method actor ''Method Actor'' is an eponymous album of the band Method Actor released in 1988 featuring American singer Eva Cassidy. It was unofficially re-released on CD in 2002. Track listing # "Getting Out" (David Christopher) – 4:19 # "Look in to My ...

who has extensively prepared his character's past, while Félix is a more mainstream Hollywood actor who finds Iván's methods pointless. Lola proves herself to be a highly eccentric director who makes extensive notes and requires increasingly bizarre exercises of her actors, such as forcing them to repeat single lines or words until she believes they are convincing enough, refusing to show up at rehearsals, and at one point dangling a large (fake) boulder over the heads of Iván and Félix via a crane to emulate the tension of the scene they are rehearsing. One session involves Iván and Félix being tied to chairs and forced to watch as Lola crushes their various awards in an

industrial shredder An industrial shredder is a machine used to break down materials for various applications such as recycling, volume reduction, and product destruction. Industrial shredders come in many different sizes and design variations based on what particle ...

, including a handmade one that was given to Iván by disabled students at a school where he once taught. One day during rehearsals, Félix tells Lola and Iván that he has been diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

and is on

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

, hoping that ''Rivalry'' will be his final masterpiece. Iván privately suggests to Lola that he could double up in order to play both brothers if Félix ends up unable to complete the project. Felix later confesses to them both that his diagnosis was a lie that he used in order to prove to the pair that he could fool them with his acting. Iván commends his performance and tells him that he believes Félix to be a better actor than he is, before revealing that this too was a lie as payback. Eventually, they reach the final scene of the film, where Félix's character murders Iván's and takes over his brother's life. At a party held by Humberto to commemorate the film starting shooting, Félix overhears Iván describe him as the worst actor he has ever worked with. Félix confronts him on a mezzanine floor within the building. Iván attempts to punch Félix who dodges the blow, causing Ivan to fall from the mezzanine level to a hard floor below. He looks dead but has been rendered comatose. Iván's wife, assuming that he must have jumped, is comforted by Félix. Lola seems to recognize that Félix is merely acting. There is a montage of what everyone ends up doing next. The film proceeds to shooting, with both roles played by Félix. At a post-screening Q&A, Lola bluntly denies any perceived meaning that the critics read into her film and gives one-word answers. In the final scenes narrated by Lola who directly addresses the audience, Suárez decides to finance a bridge, Félix returns to Hollywood projects and Iván wakes from his coma and curses Félix's name.

Cast

Production

In January 2020 casting was announced featuring

, Oscar Martínez,

Pilar Castro Pilar Castro (born 12 October 1970) is a Spanish film, television and stage actress. Biography Pilar Castro was born in Madrid on 12 October 1970. Before turning actress, she worked as a dancer. Then she trained her acting chops at Cristina R ...

Irene Escolar Irene Escolar Navarro (born 19 October 1988) is a Spanish cinema, theatre, and television actress. Life and career Irene Escolar Navarro was born in Madrid on 19 October 1988 to Lourdes Navarro (screenwriter) and (producer). She belongs to a ...

Carlos Hipólito Carlos López Hipólito (born 1956), better known as Carlos Hipólito, is a Spanish actor with a long stage career. He is perhaps most familiar to a television audience for performances in series such as '' Desaparecida'', '' Guante blanco'', ' ...

, José Luis Gómez, Nagore Aranburu, Koldo Olabarri and Juan Grandinetti with

Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn Mariano Cohn (born 1 December 1975, Villa Ballester, Argentina) and Gastón Duprat (born 8 December 1969, Bahía Blanca, Argentina) are directors, writers and producers of film and television series. They have worked together since the mid 1990s ...

directing from a screenplay penned alongside . Cruz and Banderas had only shared onscreen time before during two minutes of Pedro Almodóvar's 2013 film ''

I'm So Excited! ''I'm So Excited!'' is a 2013 Spanish comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring Javier Cámara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Dueñas, and Raúl Arévalo. Its original Spanish title, ''Los amantes pasajeros'', has the double me ...

''. The film was produced by

The Mediapro Studio Mediaproducción, S.L.U., better known as Mediapro, is a multimedia communications group in Spain founded in April 1994 in Barcelona. The company is well involved in movie and television production. The company holds branch offices in Madrid, S ...

, with the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

, and

Orange España Orange Espagne S.A.U., more commonly known by its trade name of Orange España, is a mobile network operator in Spain owned by MásOrange. It was previously known as Amena, a brand of Retevisión, until 2005, when it was bought by France Tél� ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in February 2020. In March 2020, production was halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Shooting resumed in September 2020 and the wrap was announced in October 2020. Filming took place in the Spanish cities of Madrid,

San Lorenzo de El Escorial San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba, is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Moun ...

and

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

Release

''Official Competition'' had its world premiere at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021, at Venice Lido in Italy. This edition marked the festival's return to its full format following the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, COVID ...

on 4 September 2021. It also screened at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in mid-September 2021.

Buena Vista International Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...

released the film in Spain on 25 February 2022. Protagonist Pictures handled the international distribution rights.

Star Distribution Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...

(formerly known as the Latin American branch of Buena Vista International) acquired distribution rights for Latin America. In the case of Argentina, the film was released on 17 March 2022.

IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

purchased the theatrical release rights for the United States.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, 96% of 156 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Its premise may resonate most with hardcore film fans, but ''Official Competition''s tight focus and sharp humor have a universal appeal." At the

2021 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival The 2021 edition of the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, the 33rd edition in the event's history, was held from September 18 to 26, 2021 in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The 2021 festival was presented under a hybrid model due to the C ...

, it won the award for Outstanding International Feature. At the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival, it won the Audience Award for most popular film in the Galas and Special Presentations program.

Accolades

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30th Actors and Actresses Union Awards The 30th Actors and Actresses Union Awards ceremony was held on 14 March 2022 at the Circo Price in Madrid. The gala was hosted by Gloria Albalate. In addition to the competitive awards, received the '' award, Ángela Molina Ángela Molina ...

, , Best Actress in an International Production , , Penélope Cruz , , , , , - , rowspan = "3" align = "center" , 2023 , , rowspan = "1" ,

10th Feroz Awards The 10th Feroz Awards ceremony, presented by the Asociación de Informadores Cinematográficos de España, took place at the Auditorio de Zaragoza in Zaragoza, Spain, on 28 January 2023, to recognize the best in Spanish cinema and television. This ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Comedy Film , , , , rowspan = "1" , , - ,

37th Goya Awards The 37th Goya Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, took place at the FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre in Seville, Andalusia on 11 February 2023. Background On 31 May 2022, Seville was r ...

, ,

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, , Arnau Valls Colomer , , , , , - ,

10th Platino Awards The 10th Platino Awards, presented by the Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) and the Federación Iberoamericana de Productores Cinematográficos y Audiovisuales (FIPCA), took place on 22 April 2023 at IFEMA P ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Ibero-American Comedy Film , , , ,

References

External links

''Official Competition''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' * * {{Feroz Award for Best Comedy Film 2021 films 2021 black comedy films 2021 comedy-drama films 2020s Argentine films 2020s Spanish films 2020s Spanish-language films Argentine black comedy films Argentine comedy-drama films Buena Vista International films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films about actors Films about film directors and producers Films directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn Films shot in Madrid Films shot in the province of Ávila Spanish black comedy films Spanish comedy-drama films Spanish-language black comedy films Spanish-language comedy-drama films