I sell myself for him
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | I sell myself for him |
| Original title | La Fièvre monte à El Pao |
| Country of production | France , Mexico |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 110/88 (abridged version) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Luis Buñuel |
| script | Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza , Charles Dorat , Louis Sapin |
| production |
Jacques Bar , Raymond Borderie , Óscar Dancigers , Gregorio Walerstein |
| music | Paul Misraki |
| camera | Gabriel Figueroa |
| cut |
Rafael Ceballos , James Cuenet |
| occupation | |
| |
For him I am selling myself , also known as The Fever Rises in El Pao (original title: La Fièvre monte à El Pao ), is a Mexican - French drama by Luis Buñuel with Gérard Philipe and María Félix from 1959. As a literary model served a novel by Henri Castillou .
action
Governor Mariano Vargas rules a convict island in the Atlantic Ocean with dictatorial severity. Almost all of the approximately 2,000 prisoners interned are political opponents of the ruling regime. Vargas' secretary Ramón Vázquez is an idealist and secretly sympathizes with the resistance fighters. But in contrast to his like-minded comrades, he tries to fight the system from within by being close to the governor. When Vargas is assassinated while giving a speech, Ramón is charged with temporarily running the business as the new head of the security service until a new governor is appointed. Ramón is determined to implement his ideals and immediately improve the prison conditions. He is supported by Vargas' beautiful widow Inés, with whom he begins a relationship shortly afterwards.
However, the newly appointed governor Alejandro Gual does not believe in Ramón's ideas. In addition, Gual has also been in love with Inés for years, but she has always rejected his advances. Out of jealousy, he accuses Ramón of setting the assassin on Vargas. Gual threatened Inés with a blackmailed admission from the assassin that he would have Ramón arrested if she refused to spend the night with him. She initially hesitates to sell herself this way, but changes her mind and undresses in front of his eyes. At this very moment, Gual lets an employee appear in the office because he only wants to break her pride for the time being. Humiliated, Inés gets dressed again and leaves.
Meanwhile, a prisoner seeks a conversation with Ramón. It is Professor Juan Cárdenas, with whom Ramón once studied law. Cárdenas tells him that the convicts are planning a mutiny. Since such an undertaking would result in many victims, Ramón is determined to prevent the mutiny. Inés, however, sees this as an opportunity to get rid of Gual; because if he wasn't on the island when the mutiny began, it would certainly cost him the office. For this purpose, she agrees with Gual a night of love together on the mainland, where he is currently staying, to pay the Vice President an unofficial visit. Shortly after Inés appeared at Gual's residence, she made an attempt to shoot him in his bedroom. There follows a fight between the two, in which they land on Gual's bed and Inés finally kisses him.
After their night together, Inés and Gual attend a bullfight on site, which the rest of the audience does not miss. Gual is asked over the loudspeaker to return to the island immediately and visit the Ministry of the Interior. He was arrested immediately when he arrived on the island. The mutiny is in full swing and Ramón is now General Manager. In order to prove that Gual was not there when the mutiny broke out, Inés is supposed to sign a declaration in which she admits that as Gual's lover she was on the mainland with him at the said time. Because she fears for her reputation, Inés refuses to put her signature on the letter. Ramón, who was initially against this approach, finally makes it clear to her how important her signature is for the future of the island and the entire state, since Gual's case would also cast a shadow on the vice-president. Inés finally gives in, whereupon Gual is finally ousted and Ramón takes over his office.
As the new governor, Ramón is plagued by remorse, as Professor Cárdenas was also killed in the mutiny that he was ultimately able to use to his own advantage. His newfound power still means a lot to him, which is why he refuses to destroy Inés' letter of declaration. Both get into an argument and Inés decides to travel to Mexico alone. If Ramón does not arrive there within two weeks, she will publicly expose him. On the way to the airport, she tells her driver to drive faster, fearing that she will miss her plane. If there is a roadblock, she urges her driver to just keep driving. The soldiers immediately shoot the car, which then starts to lurch and crashes. Shortly after Ramón found out about Inés' death, new prisoners arrived on the island who, contrary to his instructions, but at the will of the president, were put back in chains. Ramón defies the orders of the head of state and has all political prisoners removed from the chains. As he leaves the scene with bowed head, he tears up the president's letter of order, knowing that he will face severe punishment.
background
The shooting took place in Tepoztlán , Mexico . For lead actor Gérard Philipe it was the last screen appearance. He died a few months after filming was finished, before the film was even released.
For him I sell myself was premiered in France on December 5, 1959 . In Germany the film opened in cinemas on September 30, 1960. On November 25, 1974, it was broadcast on DFF 1 for the first time on East German television. As part of a retrospective for Luis Buñuel , it was performed again in the original language with subtitles at the 2008 Berlinale . In 2010 the film was released on DVD by Arthaus under the title The Fever Rises in El Pao as part of the Luis Bunuel Edition . This contains both the abridged German version and a 95-minute subtitled French version.
Reviews
The lexicon of international film called For him selling 'I am as "[s] chwache mix of popular fiction and melodrama to the balance of power on the prison island of Latin American fascist state". As far as "the problem of political power" is concerned, the film is "less productive despite Buñuel's directorial work". According to Prisma , María Félix "as a decisive dictator widow strengthened her carefully constructed image of a strong woman in the midst of a male society" in Buñuel's film. Your joint scenes with Gérard Philipe are of "the highest intensity". But because of the heavy cuts, "the German version of the Buñuel classic sometimes seems like a melodramatic colportage".
German version
The German dubbed version was created in 1960 by the International Film Union. The dubbing was directed by Franz Lang based on the dialogue book by Fritz A. Koeniger . For the German version, the film was shortened from 110 to 88 minutes.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Ramón Vázquez | Gérard Philipe | Eckart Dux |
| Inés Vargas | María Félix | Tilly Lauenstein |
| Governor Mariano Vargas | Miguel Ángel Ferriz | Robert Klupp |
Web links
- Los Ambiciosos in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Synopsis and review on frenchfilmguide.com
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ I'll sell myself for him. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. prisma.de
- ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
