2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Albert Serra’s The Story of My Death

#44. Albert Serra’s The Story of My Death

Gist: Also known as ‘Albert Serra’s Dracula movie’, the plot focuses on the transition between the 18th century (rationalism, the Enlightenment and sensuality) and the start of the 19th century (Romanticism, obscurantism and violence), highlighting two famous characters who embodied these two worlds: Casanova and Dracula. Once again using non-actors and ‘cultural figures’ (e.g. Cinema Scope’s Mark Peranson in Birdsong), much of the details on this one are under a blanket of mystery.

Prediction: This was in our predictions last year, and I’m kind of amazed that it hasn’t shown up anywhere in the year since. Alas, here it is again! As we mentioned last year, both of Serra’s first features premiered in the Fortnight; it’s possible that the two mammoth projects he dropped last year at MACBA – The Lord Worked Wonders in Me and the three-hour-plus The Names of Christ (this one also played Rotterdam 2012) – just sucked up all of his editing time for this one. Hopefully it hasn’t been tossed away. If the MACBA projects were a descent into art/film esoterica, here’s a film that may signal a leap forward in Serra’s accessibility. If so, and if it’s done, we see this landing in the Fortnight.