31/08/2024 - VENICE 2024: He did what?! Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño deliver a surprisingly entertaining take on a wild true story, starring a fantastic Eduard Fernández

Eduard Fernández in Marco

Given its historical background and all the mentions of Nazi cruelty, Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño’s Marco [+see also:
trailer
interview: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño
film profile] shouldn’t be fun, but it is. More than that – it might be one of the most watchable films at the Venice Film Festival this year: dynamic, twisted and blessed with the kind of performance by Eduard Fernández that should get him all the awards out there.

The less you know about the story, the better. Enric Marco (Fernández) is the star of the Spanish Association of Holocaust Victims. He fights for the survivors to be recognised and appreciated, he says, and he’s actually very good at it. No one can talk about the horrors of concentration camps the way Enric does. Students listen, politicians cry, journalists can’t believe their own luck. His family and friends know him as a master storyteller, the kind that’s not afraid to change a thing or two in order to make an impression. But they don’t know how much he’s really changing.

Marco, shown in Venice’s Orizzonti section, is based on true events that are just, well, insane. They might not be known to viewers outside of Spain, and all the better for it – discovering the way this man’s mind operates without knowing the outcome is a fascinating procedure. Arregi and Garaño – who recently scored new fans with Cristóbal Balenciaga [+see also:
series review
series profile] – could make things easy here, but they don’t. Neither does Enric. The man’s a liar, but he’s also a charmer. He makes things interesting when no one’s interested any more. All of these survivors deserve attention, and what they went through was horrific, but when asked about it directly, they send people to sleep. In a way, it’s a film about this society: a good story is worth more than a true story.

Unlike so many films at this year’s fest, Marco has actual commercial potential. It also feels timely – times change, but people keep on lying and posting edited images on social media: Anna Delvey, Rachel Dolezal, presenting herself as a black woman, Hilaria Baldwin and her “cucumbergate”… Con artists, fraudsters, people who simply want to appear more interesting, prettier and richer. “I never hurt no one,” says Enric, but that’s not exactly true, is it? It hurts to be deceived or to discover your entire relationship was based on deception. It hurts to be lied to, even though it doesn’t have to result in fatalities.

And yet the film still manages to be funny at times, and we’re not exactly sure how. It might be because of the gravity of the situation, which makes this whole thing absurd. It might be because even when confronted, like a child who’s in trouble, Enric still isn’t ready to apologise. He never wanted money, he claims in the film, which makes things even weirder – then what was he after, exactly? Attention? Respect? People don’t like to admit it, but everyone thinks they are special and deserve better. They think that, given the chance, they would be just like those stars on the Venice red carpet – or better. Terry Pratchett claimed that humans need fantasy to be human. That’s what Enric Marco needs, too.

Marco was produced by Spain’s Irusoin, Moriarti Produkzioak, Atresmedia Cine and La verdad inventada AIE. Its international sales are handled by Film Factory Entertainment.

Photogallery 28/09/2024: San Sebastian 2024 - Marco

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Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño, Eduard Fernández, Nathalie Poza
© 2024 Dario Caruso for Cineuropa - @studio.photo.dar, Dario Caruso