The Castle Of Purity

Arturo Ripstein began working in film at the age of fifteen on the set of Nazarin, where he met Luis Buñuel. He later assisted him during the filming of The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert. Their relationship soon developed into a master-disciple bond. As Ripstein later recalled: “Buñuel didn’t teach me filmmaking techniques, but he convinced me that the best films emerge when a director reveals the most intimate aspects of his personality”. Ripstein made his debut at twenty-one with Time to Die, scripted by Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes. The Castle of Purity comes from a period when he worked closely with Buñuel, who was originally meant to direct the film. Claudio Brook – famous for his role in Simon of the Desert – plays Gabriel, a hypocrite and sadist who keeps his family imprisoned inside their home for eighteen years. His children – Utopía, Porvenir and Voluntad – are locked in a cage even for the smallest offence. Meanwhile Gabriel secretly leads a debauched life outside the house, a double life that inevitably leads to tragedy.

Piotr Kobus

Arturo Ripstein (b. 1943) – Mexican film director, screenwriter, and producer, one of the most prominent figures in the history of Mexican cinema. He began his career as an assistant to Luis Buñuel on The Exterminating Angel. His films portray characters from the margins of society, blending stark realism with elements of grotesque and macabre. A two-time winner of the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival: for The Beginning and the End (1993) and The Ruination of Men (2000).

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