There are people who go through life alone and others who don’t, Maria Marull belongs to the second group. His thing is to build bonds, find love in the characters, have a natural warmth far removed from professional kindness.
María is the same at the Palais de Cannes and at the Cairo cinema in Rosario, while she receives ovations with her sister Paula in “What the river does” or when they get together to laugh at a thousand shared anecdotes. couple of Damián Szifronmother of Rosa and Eva, loving disciple of Mauricio Kartún, can be a model with a certain ex-boyfriend who is not very tolerant of frustration in “Wild Stories”, Rodrigo de la Serna’s partner in “Brothers and Detectives” or Sonia, the woman of “Coppola, the representative”, without losing an ounce of truth.
The premiere of “A silent death”the Patagonian western by Sebastián Schindel where he sparks off with Joaquín Furriel, Alejandro Awada and Soledad Villamil is the perfect excuse to resume a conversation that never left. María Marull is that friend from school that you haven’t seen since fifth year but if you meet her on the street you give her a hug.
News: Do you feel another adrenaline rush when the premiere is in theaters?
María Marull: The truth is, for me there is nothing like watching movies in the cinema. And I think “A Silent Death” is to be enjoyed in a theater, it is a genre film, about climates, with beautiful photography. Cinema is an immersive experience, totally different from what you can have at home because you turn off your cell phone, you connect with what you are watching. When you watch something on a platform the experience is more interrupted, it is difficult to disconnect with what you have in your head and with the environment. I think that, as with many things, technological advancement was very fast, the world moves very fast. I am more analog and I don’t tend to think that new is always better. I don’t want you to miss the ritual of going to see a movie and then continuing to talk while you eat or have something to drink, because cinema is a project that is completed with others.
News: The theater managed to find a new splendor, direct contact with the actors is something irreplaceable. Did the cinematographic complexes cool the closeness with the viewer?
Marull: It is true that the experience is not the same. Yesterday I went to see a movie with my daughter and there are almost no human beings to assist you in the complexes. Something strange is generated, I miss that more personal contact that there was before. You don’t have anyone to ask anything, everything is done using machines, from getting tickets to buying water. It is inevitable to make friends with some of reality, but a lot is also lost. In the cinema we share space and emotions, in that sense it is very close to the theater, we all laugh at the same time, we suffer tensions or we cry together.
News: As for tensions, “A Silent Death” is a thriller. What convinced you to make a genre film?
Marull: I had already worked with director Sebastián Schindel in the judicial drama “Family Secrets” and I like his look, his way of filming. When he offered me this new character I really liked the script, I am interested in trusting the director and putting myself in his hands to enter other worlds. This character has little to do with my universe or the plays I write and that’s tempting. Plus the cast was spectacular. How could I not participate if I love making movies?
News: Filming came to coexist with theater. Did you go from “What the river does” to what the cold does?
Marull: (laughs) Yes, while we were filming in San Martín de los Andes, with that intense cold I went back and forth to Buenos Aires because we were doing shows and I enjoyed filming so much that at some point I didn’t want to go back again. It was a beautiful experience to get out of the urban area, from that constant heating and get into nature, immerse yourself in the film also because of the sensory aspects. Because there is a certain hostility of the characters that also has to do with that extremely cold environment. Here in the city you are never hot or cold, the seasons are all the same (laughs).
News: Speaking of feeling, last year to commemorate the decade of its release, “Wild Tales” was shown in theaters again. Were you able to see her with your daughters? What did you feel at that moment?
Marull: It was beautiful, we went to the movies with part of the cast and people from the production company. Julieta Zylberberg took her son Luis and I took my daughter Eva who is now 10 years old, she was not born when we filmed, she was three months old at the premiere. At that time we traveled a lot and I saw the movie a thousand times, but never again afterwards, only videos, memes, reels, never the whole thing. There is something about “Wild Tales” that is permanently in the collective imagination, but seeing it again was special, so I went with Eva and I loved it, that night I spoke on the phone with Damián who was traveling and it was the first thing I said to him: “I congratulate you after ten years” (laughs). I found it very round, with humor and depth, it entertained me, I saw a lot of details again and I remembered all the passion and love that Damián put into that film in everything, in the titles, in the music. I really enjoyed sharing it with our daughter, they are those moments when you think about time and how life goes by.
News: A decade passed and it did not lose an ounce of relevance. Are we getting wilder?
Marull: That struck me, I didn’t notice anything that didn’t apply to this moment. It has that savagery that comes from what is unfair, those things that sometimes you feel like doing but you repress them so as not to end badly or go to prison (laughs). It is totally current, unfortunately bureaucracy and injustice have not aged.
News: Together with her sister Paula they are experiencing success with “What the River Does”, a work that overflows with humanity. In these cruel times do we need a little more heart?
Marull: Completely. I think that many people don’t realize what moves them because we don’t have time to stop and think or feel. One lives on the run, with a thousand open windows, with this every man for himself attitude and I believe that theater, cinema, art in general are a pause, an opening to connect with something about the other. We must not lose humanity and it seems to me that sometimes that is happening.
News: The last one. In 2023, Damián Szifron returned to the Cannes Film Festival where he had competed with “Wild Tales”, this time as a jury. We saw her looking great on the red carpet with him, but what does she do all day while her husband deliberates on the Palme d’Or?
Marull: Oh, it was such a beautiful trip! Damián had to watch a lot of movies, three or four a day, they held meetings to evaluate them. And meanwhile I tried to see all the cinema I could, the tremendous offer of titles and sections is great. With respect to the great looks, it is because you have no other choice, there is a protocol for galas, men cannot enter without a bow, women have to go ahead. I put everything together from here, Javi Monti, a friend who is a theatrical costume designer, helped me, so we managed to get several Argentine designers to lend me divine clothes. It was a dream trip, pure illusion, is there anything much better than watching movies and enjoying with the person you love?
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