‘Tardes de Soledad’ comes to London
Alberto Serra’s controversial bullfighting film ‘Tardes de Soledad’ has finally reached the UK as part of the ‘Off Circuit’ season at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. At the premiere, attended by the director, there was suprisingly no animal rights picketing of the building, nor any protest in the cinema itself: rather, a full house of cinephiles together with a smattering of Club Taurino of London members, all interested in the film and what Serra had to say about it.
The thinking behind Serra’s films in general (this is his first documentary after a number of narrative films) is that a camera can reveal more than the human eye. With that in mind, ‘Tardes de Soledad’’s treatment of what goes on in the ring consists almost entirely of close-ups - the faces of the bull and the toreros, the movement of the cloth, the bloodied peto, the bulls’ wounds (although not the matador’s) and their death-throes. The other piece of technology that gives the film a different feel from others on bullfighting are the battery-powered microphones worn by the toreros that pick up what is said and heard in the arena. The film has three basic locations - the bullring, the furgoneta in which the cuadrilla travels to and from corridas, and the hotel in which the matador is dressed.
At the premiere, Serra said the film was neither pro- nor anti-bullfighting. He made great play of his fly-on-the-wall approach, saying there was no acting involved (true, although a number of knowledgeable aficionados have said the frequently banal conversations recorded in the furgoneta are atypical and perhaps indicate that the occupants were conscious of being filmed) and that, consequently, this is how the Fiesta really is. However, in a similar talk at the New York Film Festival (where he also claimed he’d decided to base the film around the matador Andrés Roca Rey rather than Pablo Aguado because the Peruvian had a better hairstyle and Aguado was “boring” and “less committed”), Serra boasted of his editing prowess. So ‘Tardes de Soledad’ should be viewed as an edited version of several corridas, filmed in Sevilla, Madrid, Santander and Bilbao, and associated moments, which reflects Serra’s particular interest in a spectacle he claims not to understand.
In London, he emphasised a number of times that Roca Rey (with whom, he reckoned, he’d not had more than two five-minute conversations) and his coterie had felt “betrayed” by the film. Roca Rey reportedly felt the film did not show him at his best, while the general feeling was that there was too much violence on display - something that amused Serra, coming from the instigators of that violence! Apparently, there were angry missives sent from the taurinos to Serra right up until the film’s award-winning showing at San Sebastián’s Film Festival. It’s the violence of the corrida and the willingness of the toreros to put their lives on the line - all this during an increasingly bland and unprincipled 21st century - that fascinates Serra. Consequently, despite the hundreds of hours of bullfight footage Serra had to edit from, Roca Rey is always shown facing difficult bulls.
The tensions of bullfighting are sustained almost throughout the film’s two hours. In our first sight of Roca Rey in the furgoneta on the way to a bullfight, he is sweating profusely - is he just feeling that day’s heat, or is he ill, or is he just very worried about what lies ahead? Shortly after, we see a terrified looking Andrés clearly simply relying on his wits and technique to torear a fearsome looking bull at Madrid’s 2023 Corrida in memory of Yiyo, a section of the crowd - along with the bulls’ breathing, the spectators provide a constant audial accompaniment to what goes on in the bullring, although they are never shown - vociferously against him too.
Later on, we see that awful susto Roca Rey experienced later that year at Santander, his bull suddenly turning in on him, lifting him and pinning him against the barrera, a horn on each side of his body. Afterwards, the furgoneta conversations take on a serious tone, initially with Roca Rey in the front seat, still wearing his infirmary gown, and later after the matador has left the vehicle.
The film’s reviewers have commented on his cuadrilla’s frequent allusions to the size of their matador’s testicles (shown briefly at one point in the film and revealed to be normal) as the cuadrilla praise the efforts of their jefe. Indeed, Roca Rey is the only person who is heard to voice doubts about his performances. To this writer, it is unsurprising that someone regularly facing injury or death requires a lot of support from those around him, even if that involves what would normally be seen as crude or sycophantic remarks.
Somewhat let down by some lazy subtitling, ‘Tardes de Soledad’ is a fascinating portrayal of bullfighting. What particularly came across for me more than I notice from the tendido is the sheer effort a matador has to put in towards controlling and creating adeptness and beauty with an unpredictable and dangerous ‘partner’. The film ends with another tricky faena in front of Madrid’s difficult spectators. No, ‘Tardes de Soledad’ may not show Andrés Roca Rey at what he considers to be his best, but no one can come away doubting the bravery involved in the Peruvian’s chosen career.
(There are further showings of ‘Tardes de Soledad’ at the ICA until September 18 - see ICA | UK PREMIERE Afternoons of Solitude)