The Souffleur

Lucius, a devoted hotel manager, is losing ground: the famous Intercontinental Hotel in Vienna—his long-time home and workplace for thirty years—is about to be demolished. Baffled at this new reality, he clings to the last traces of his fading world. Gaston Solnicki’s connection to Vienna is almost as strong as that of his protagonist. THE SOUFFLEUR is his third feature set in the city—a place he observes as both insider and outsider. As an Argentinian working in Europe, Solnicki has often celebrated Viennese grandeur. Here, however, he openly mocks that perspective, even appearing as a sly Argentinian developer who brings an end to the Intercontinental— which is, by the way, also the historical headquarters of the Viennale. Yet his main alter ego—or indeed his souffleur—in this speculative fiction is Lucius, played by Willem Dafoe, whose character emerges as a sad, solitary clown in his attempts to preserve something that is slowly disappearing—for better and for worse. Balancing playfulness with melancholy and intimacy with joy, THE SOUFFLEUR unfolds as a chamber piece: an ode to the past and its inevitable decline, yet one that embraces the future as something even more fragile and transitory. (Evgeny Gusyatinskiy)

In the presence of Gastón Solnicki, Willem Dafoe (on the 25th) and Gabriele Kranzelbinder (producer).

Gastón Solnicki: LILIANA. REBECCA (2007, K), SÜDEN (2008), ZHEST (2010, K), PAPIROSEN (2011), ENJOY YOURSELF (2012, K), KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ (2016), INTRODUZIONE ALL’OSCURO (2018), 30 (2019), A LITTLE LOVE PACKAGE (2022)