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Andreas Fontana (Switzeland, 1982), based in Argentina,
debuted with Azor (2021), a collaboration with
screenwriter Mariano Llinas.
The story is set during Argentinas "Dirty War" (1976-1983), when the military dictatorship persecuted and killed thousands of left-wing activists, like Benjamin Naishtats Rojo (2018) and Francisco Marquezs Un Crimen Comun/ A Common Crime (2020).
Fontana's Azor is different because the terror remains hidden behind
a translucent surface of
excessive politeness, sophistication and elegance.
It has a nebulous episodic plot of meetings, parties and conversations (both mundane and coded), a plot full of allusions and devoid of action.
All the characters belong to the business aristocracy.
They all live in fear of tomorrow, but
there is no vulgar brutality.
Their fear is financial, not corporal.
The elite lives in a placid atmosphere of terror.
It is also the psychological portrait of a banker with no scruples, who is forced by his job to live outside history although taking advantage of history.
His controlled, affable behavior ultimately consists in suppressing moral values.
Keys puzzle is never solved: did he flee? is he hiding? was he arrested?
There is no answer, and the banker doesn't really care.
Indirectly, the film puts together also the portrait of the disappeared man,
also a banker, but apparently the opposite of the machine-like protagonist,
a complex and charismatic man whose presence/absence is ubiquitous.
Fontana steals a page from
Carol Reed's film The Third Man (the mysteriously disappeared Harry Lime) and a page from
Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness" (Kurtz's jungle boat trip).
In 1980 an elegant French-speaking Swiss couple arrives in town and takes a room at a luxury hotel: bank executive Yvan and his chain-smoking wife Ines.
They meet with the rude and vulgar lawyer Dekerman, who represents an important client, Anibal Farrell.
We start hearing about the mysterious disappearance of Rene' Keys, who represented Yvan's bank in Argentina.
Ines' cousin thinks that Rene' Keys is ok in Switzerland and invites them to an exclusive party.
We understand that Yvan, a private banker, is in Argentina to both reassure the bank's wealthy clients
(the business aristocracy of Argentina)
during the political upheaval
and to find out what happened to his partner Keys who
left lucrative business unfinished.
Yvan and Ines meet with an older aristocratic woman, Lacrosteguy, whose daughter Bibi normally lives in New York. She remarks that Keys left at the bad time, perhaps scared of the new regime.
At a pool party Bibi tells her mother that the authorities took everything from rich friends.
Lacrosteguy felt safe with Keys.
Yvan searches Keys' deserted apartment for clues and finds a list of familiar client names to which a mysterious one has been added: Lazaro.
Ines thinks that Keys must have been afraid of something.
Yvan and Ines then visit landowner Augusto Padel-Camon who remembers
Keys as a friend. Augusto laments that his trusted daughter Leopolda has disappeared, presumably arrested for political activities. Augusto doesn't trust his sons.
Yvan mentions a man named Decome whom he trusts as a courier.
Augusto's wife Magdalena has a different opinion of Keys, whom she calls a "despicable and dangerous manipulator".
Yvan makes phone calls to find out who "Lazaro" is.
Yvan and Ines finally meet Anibal Farrell, the owner of
racehorses, with his lawyer Dekerman (Dekerman whispers "no women" to Yvan and Yvan sends Ines to watch the races).
We learn that Yvan's grandfather founded the Swiss bank.
But soon Farrell has to leave and lets Dekerman tell Yvan they are taking their money elsewhere after Keys disappeared. Dekerman emphasizes that Farrell and Keys were very close.
Back at the hotel, Ines accuses Yvan of not being aggressive enough.
Yvan gives a bag to Decome, who remarks that
people live in fear of tomorrow and that there were rumors that Keys lost his mind.
Yvan meets a group of business leaders at the Circle of Arms, who were all friends of Keys.
Their unofficial leader is an elederly church official,
Monsignor Tatosky. He laments that the state needs to reeducate young people after a period of chaos, and adds that parasites must be eradicated, even in the best families.
Yvan learns that a rival Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, is trying to lure his clients away.
Tatosky remarks that Yvan is humbler than Keys.
Tatosky mentions that Keys once told them that they were all murderers.
Alone with Yvan,
Tatosky shows an in-depth knowledge of
finance and
asks Yvan to make risky investments in the
currency market.
Tatosky too doesn't know why Keys left.
Asked who is Lazaro,
Tatosky
smiles and only comments that Lazaro is scary.
Ines' cousin takes Yvan and Ines to a gala.
Ines chats with Lacrosteguy and with
Magdalena's sister Alicia, who lives in Europe, who tells her how much Augusto suffered from Leopolda's disappeared.
Augusto tells Yvan to open a bank account in the name of his daughter Leopolda and don't tell his wife and sons.
Dekerman, the only one who speaks without mincing words, disparages his client Farrell calling him an ambitious paranoid idiot.
Meanwhile, Yvan meets with the rival from Credit Suisse, Guy Lombier.
Guy Lombier tells Yvan that he knows Keys left things unfinished, and mentions Lazaro.
Back at the hotel,
Yvan tells Ines that he is hurt that everybody seems to miss Keys and fears he's beeing humiliated.
Finally, Yvan carries out the "Lazaro" operation: Lazaro is not a person.
Yvan sets out on a boat travel up the river into the jungle.
He is taken in the middle of the night to trucks guarded by soldiers with machine gun.
The operation is operseen by a colonel.
Someone reads a long list of items, from refrigerators to cars.
Yvan promises that the goods can be
discreetly transported and auctioned in Switzerland.
We understand that "Lazaro" is the name of a secret army contract.
And then Yvan travels back by boat in the middle of the night, smiling.
(Copyright © 2024 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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