Fausto 5.0 (2001)

La Fura dels Baus is a Catalan theatrical group founded in 1979 in Barcelona known for their urban theatre, use of unusual settings and blurring of the boundaries separating audience and actor.
Goethe's classic 'Faust' has been one of la Fura del Baus' obsessions for many years. In this very personal screen version, we find a modern Faust with very human contractions; there's no devil here but only an accurate representation of a two faced character, a very human side which probably lives inside of all of us.
Using the Faust story as a jumping off point, Fausto 5.0 turns out to be more interested in the set designer's vision of an apocalyptic cyberpunk cityscape than in Faust's psychological state.






Fausto is an earnest sombre doctor working with terminally ill patients. He travels to Barcelona for a conference on caring for the terminally ill. Once he arrives there he is met at the station by Santos, a former patient whose stomach he removed, who ends up showing him to his hotel. Once he is there a woman turns up to have sex with him and Santos turns up in his room for breakfast. Hounded by Santos, the doctor asks him to stay away but after Santos seems to grant a wish of remission for one of his patients he gets drunk with him and lets him know his darkest wishes. Will his wishes lead him to his downfall or to his heart’s desire?
The main centre of the film is the doctor’s descent into his desires.
The dark mise en scène reminds us of the claustrophobic and nightmaresque atmospheres created by David Lynch and works perfectly to recreate the duality of this character, whose actions represent the fight between heart and mind, the good and the bad.
You can buy Fausto 5.0.

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