The Artist and the Model

The Artist and the Model by Fernando Trueba, "Siver Shell" for Best Director at Donostia Film festival, Sept 2012.

Plot:

In the occupied France of 1943 an old sculptor and his wife live in a small town not far from the Spanish border. Several years have gone by since the 80 year-old artist Marc Cros stopped sculpting. He has lived through two wars and, disillusioned, expects nothing much of life or the human species. But one day in the street his wife Lea picks up a young woman, Merce, who is on the run from Franco´s army. The couple offer Merce the chance to live in the sculptor´s workshop and, while she´s there, to model for what will be the last work by old Cros. Slowly, a beautiful relationship is born between the young girl who is just starting out in life and the old man who senses that his end is near. In the mountain workshop, the model and the artist talk simply and openly about everything around them.

The Artist and the Model was shot in French. According to Trueba´s words:"I´m pretty French. I´m probably more French than some French people. I feel French for some things. Brazilian for others, and American for yet others. I am not talking about the countries but about the cultures. Sometimes I regret not having moved to France. The place where I shot El artista y la modelo is where I used to go as a young man to pick peaches and for the grape harvest. It was in those fields that I read the entire works of Rimbaud. Ultimately I don´t believe in countries - this whole nation thing is silly. I have a great hatred of nationalism. Maybe it´s because I have always done exactly what I want. I never had a boss and nobody has given me orders. And If anybody has ever given me  an order. I  have always done the opposite _ just for the sake of it."