The Aura (2005)

Interesting facts

• Box office: $1.8M
• Filmed in: Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia, and Bariloche
• Awards: 1 · Nominations: 1. Including: Silver Condor Award for Best Film

The Aura is a 2005 neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky and starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi, Pablo Cedrón and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart. It was Bielinsky's second and final feature film before his death in 2006. The plot revolves around an epileptic taxidermist who often fantasizes about committing the perfect heist, and who suddenly has the chance of making one happen after he accidentally kills a man who was in fact a career criminal.

Production

Writer and director Fabián Bielinsky had started writing the film in the 1980s, then-titled Un amigo del señor Dietrich (English: A Friend of Mr. Dietrich), which closely followed genre conventions and had a clear redemption arc for the protagonist. Bielinsky then took his original idea of "a guy wearing someone else's skin to satisfy his own desires" and took it in a different direction.

Bielinsky stated that The Aura was "a film almost reactive to Nine Queens". While Bielinsky shot Nine Queens in a way he would "disappear as director" and the writing would stand out, for The Aura he focused on other aspects of filmmaking such as "mood, lightning, or atmosphere". The film is told entirely from the protagonist's point of view, being present in every single scene of the film.

Production designer Mercedes Alfonsín was the first crew member to join the project. She had eight weeks of pre-production by herself and regularly gave Bielinsky notes on the script as he was writing it. The casting process lasted six months. Ricardo Darín had already been cast as the protagonist, but the rest of the characters had no actors attached.

The Aura began filming in mid-October 2004, taking place primarily in Bariloche and Buenos Aires City. In November 2004, shooting began at the Llao Llao Hotel in Bariloche, lasting around 40 days. In December, scenes were shot at the La Plata Museum with Darín and Awada. Filming concluded in late December 2004 in Buenos Aires.

The effect of the aura was achieved using a circular camera dolly with a linear camera dolly over it. The camera would spin with Darín on it in front of the camera, while the camara would dolly in while zooming out, so that the background would move farther away.

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