Review: The Clan

The Clan (15)

Argentina/Spain 2015 108 mins Subtitles Dir: Pablo Trapero Starring: Guillermo Francella, Peter Lanzani, Lili Popovich, Stefania Koessl, Gastón Cocchiarale, Giselle Motta, Franco Masini

Whatcha gonna do when the brutal dictatorship under which you have prospered crumbles? Why, simply carry on as before while you wait for the inevitable collapse of democracy and a return to the good old days, of course. For Argentinean former state security officer Arquimedes Puccio (Guillermo Francella), the task is made easier by the fact that he lives in a country numbed by “the disappeared”. Indeed, Pablo Trapero’s gripping, grisly, Scorsese-esque true-life ‘banality of evil’ drama suggests that he was responsible for more than his fair share of the disappearing. Surely no one will notice or care too much if a few more are added to the tally to keep the close-knit Puccio clan in the comfortable middle class lifestyle to which they have become accustomed?

So here we are in early ’80s Buenos Aires, where Puccio’s strapping, tousle-haired eldest son Alex (Peter Lanzani) is well on his way to becoming an international rugby star. While driving home with a sporting pal, he’s intercepted by a car full of masked men brandishing guns. Both young men are forced to wear hoods. Alex’s mate is bundled into the boot while Alex himself is manoeuvred into the passenger seat at gunpoint. As the car drives off, disguises are removed. Yep – it’s Puccio and his cronies, Alex having been used as bait. This thrilling, bravura sequence typifies director Pablo Trapero’s stylish approach to a story that fascinates and repels in equal measure. Later, he will intercut between basement torture and passionate sex, underlining those Scorsese comparisons with sly use of rock music. The film is bookended by The Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon, David Lee Roth’s jaunty version of Just a Gigolo is certain to put an inappropriate smile on your face as it soundtracks an abduction, and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Tombstone Shadow is deployed imaginatively to muffle the screams of a victim.

Of course, this could easily become just so much torture porn. But Trapero is working on a larger canvas. Perhaps slightly undercooked is the political dimension, in which Pucci enjoys the tacit approval of his former junta comrades as he goes about his nasty trade with all the arrogance of someone who knows he’s above the law – until his crimes become too conspicuous to ignore. It doesn’t help that after receiving huge ransoms for his abductees, he kills them anyway to avoid being identified.

More fascinating is the normalising of the family business of kidnapping and murder, with the Puccis gathering for meals and the kids doing their homework in a tableau of domestic bliss while the current victim is gagged and chained to an iron bed in a makeshift cell beneath their feet. It emerges that Arquimedes has already lost one son – who fled, never to be seen again – and now drives home the necessity of family solidarity. Having been so deviously implicated, the conflicted Alex yearns to pursue his sporting career and live a normal life with girlfriend Monica (Stefania Koessl), but instead finds himself appointed his father’s right-hand man and appears literally paralysed when offered the opportunity to escape. That said, he happily enjoys the spoils of Pa Paccui’s dastardly deeds, attenuating our sympathies somewhat.

Trapero has specialised in wallowing in murky, morally dubious territory with the likes of El Bonaerense, Carancho and White Elephant. This, however, is his most technically accomplished and daring film to date, not least in its vein of pitch-black comedy. The somewhat convoluted, time-hopping flashback structure is a perhaps unnecessary flourish, but the director’s trump card is star Guillermo Francella. Something of a national treasure back home, where he’s renowned for his comic performances, Francella is best known to international audiences for his role in Juan José Campanella’s Oscar-winning The Secret in Their Eyes. His imperious, calculating, black-hearted, cold-eyed, controlling patriarch is nothing short of a revelation.