Luis Fernando Verissimo wins unprecedented portrait in new documentary

In September 2016, as he was about to celebrate his 80th birthday, writer Luis Fernando Verissimo became the focus of the documentary “True”directed by Angelo Defanti. The production was selected for the It’s All True Festival 2024 and will make its debut in cinemas in at least 13 cities today (2), including Brasília, Cuiabá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Distributed by Boulevard Filmsin partnership with Showcase Films It is Spcine, the documentary takes a deep dive into the routine and personality of one of Brazil’s best-known writers, also famous for his introspection. Defanti, who is a fan and has lived with the author, speaks exclusively to Forum about how everything was thought out. “Motivated by my coexistence not only with Luis Fernando, but also with the other members of the Verissimo family. There was a very particular and very affectionate functioning in that group,” he says.

The story of friendship built between the two was also a starting point for the creation of the film. “Despite one of them being very shy and surrounded by others who were very introspective, they still clicked, they were very harmonious, showing their love in small gestures, and participating very effectively in each other’s lives. In this dynamic, it seemed to me that there was a film, more than a documentary about a writer”, said Defanti.

Literary experiences

Since he was little, the director had Verissimo as his inspiration. “I left Turma da Mônica and embarked on prose through her chronicles. When I decided to make films, having come across his chronicles had a direct role in wanting to tell stories and reproduce some of the literary experiences he had given me. I made two short films based on his short stories, and my first fiction feature was from “The Angel Club”, he says.

To record, he went to his house every day. “To maintain this consistency, I soon understood that it would be important to create variations in the schedules and activities I recorded. The 90 minutes of the film are the result of analyzing almost 100 total hours of material. The initial proposal was to have the last 15 days of a man’s 79 years and the first 15 of his 80s. During the montage, we saw that the birthday itself was the inevitable climax of the story – keeping the appropriate proportions that a peaceful guy can live of climax”, he reveals.

He also says that the production took place during a very difficult political moment in the country, the Impeachment of Dilma in 2016, and that politics, a fundamental part of Veríssimo’s life, “concerned the film with everything they wanted to know about Verissimo at the door of the celebrations. 80 years old. Even though at the time the country was experiencing the emotional upheaval of a traumatic impeachment and Verissimo was a public opponent of the process.”

According to Defanti, there is an interview in which the writer is asked about these questions: “about what it was like to write during the dictatorship, not so much about the current state of affairs. There was also a request that an autograph on a flag be placed next to Dilma’s. Like many of the topics, the subjects discreetly infiltrate the film, a bit like the flow of life, made up of a myriad of situations,” he highlights.

Verissimo’s subjective

Credits: Disclosure

The film shows still unknown layers of the writer, exploring his thoughts, routines and creative process. The family also participates in the production. “He’s almost an anti-character. The challenge was to transform inaction into something bright. The strategy was to oscillate between very close observation and an expanded investigation of the surroundings. It is a calm and peaceful film, like the subject it examines, but constantly nourished by the idea that a person is as much a result of their environment as they influence it.”

“The language of the film emulates Verissimo’s way of positioning himself in the world, with a discreet, observant and calm camera. Verissimo’s time seems to be different from the world around it and the film enters this new space”

The family has already gotten together to watch each episode of the series and the director is curious to know the protagonist’s opinion on filming. “They are watching it little by little, one episode at a time. And everyone has loved it. On that opening day, May 2nd, I’ll be heading to Porto Alegre and I’ll hear his impressions firsthand.”