The Dark Side of the Heart


The Dark Side of the Heart is a 1992 Argentine romantic drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. It is currently considered a cult film.

Plot

Oliverio, a Bohemian poet, travels through Buenos Aires with his friends, harassed by Death, looking for a woman capable of “flying”. In the course of the film, the poetry of Mario Benedetti, Juan Gelman and Oliverio Girondo is seen intermingled with the thickest places of Argentine and Uruguayan artistic daily life. From the barbecue, to the battered bars of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the main character's thought is intermittently intertwined with fiction, only to be able to better show the central character's thinking.
The story unfolds in the comings and goings of Oliverio, through his world, in which, exchanging food for poetry, or asking for coins on street corners, seeing Mario Benedetti reciting his poems in German, seeing Genetic sculptures, talking to cows, and conversing with death seem to be part of any given day in the life of a poet.

Cast

Awards

Montreal World Film Festival
  • Grand Prix des Amériques
Biarritz Film Festival
  • Best Actor
  • Best Actress
Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival
  • Critic Award
Havana Film Festival
  • Best Actor
Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences Awards
43rd Berlin International Film Festival
  • Jury Award of the Readers of the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, International Forum of Young Cinema
Cartagena Film Festival
  • Best Director
  • Best Cinematography
  • Critics Jury Award
Cinoche International Film Festival of Baie-Comeau
  • Best Screenplay
Festival du film de Sept-Îles
  • Best Film
Silver Condor, Argentine Film Critics Association
  • Best Director
  • Best Cinematography
  • Best Art Direction
  • Best Female Revelation
Bergamo Film Meeting
Sin Cortes Awards
Argentores Awards
  • Best Film Book
Festival de Gramado

Sequel

A sequel titled The Dark Side of the Heart 2 was released on July 5, 2001. A Spanish-Argentine co-production, it was again written and directed by Eliseo Subiela, with Darío Grandinetti and reprising their roles from the original film. The supporting cast includes Ariadna Gil, Manuel Bandera, Carolina Peleritti and Nacha Guevara.