“The trouble is that love dies before the body does.”
Narrator
The darkly satirical horror of El Conde reimagines Augusto Pinochet as vampire born in Revolutionary France, director Pablo Larraín using the imagery of vampirism not merely to fictionalise but to examine Pinochet’s crimes and his lasting legacy. There are thematic similarities with the legacy crafting in Larraín’s Jackie, exploring an individual’s desires through their performance — Pinochet’s children may attend him because they cling to his wealth, but his focus is how he will be remembered. In justifying his actions, he is presented as a figure of absurd cognitive dissonance: though he squandered Chile’s wealth, he is bitter at being remembered as a thief, and he simultaneously wishes to be revered as an intellectual but excused for his regime’s violent excess as being tricked by those around him. The sombre black and white imagery suits the subject matter, allowing for contrasting extremes of inky blood and white-robed nuns. Larraín opts to use native Spanish for dialogue but a strangely posh English narration that makes sense only once the narrator makes an appearance. This voiceover lays bare Larraín’s intentions behind the vampire allegory, explaining that Pinochet turned people into “heroes of greed”, both leeching and virulent. It is a less subtle approach than other work from Larraín, but the characterful narration serves its purpose and increases the accesssibility of El Conde.
7/10
