by Phillippe Cahill
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
David Verdaguer, Carolina Yuste, Pedro Casablanc
Intro:
There’s so much to love here, but ultimately, it’s the beautiful, delicately realised love story that is the beating heart of this film …
Award-winning writer/director David Trueba (Living is Easy with Eyes Closed) returns with acclaimed celebrity biopic Jokes & Cigarettes, chronicling the ascent of iconic Catalan humourist Eugenio Jofra (David Verdaguer) to comedy superstardom, set amidst the declining years of the Franco dictatorship and Spain’s difficult ‘70s post-Franco transition to democracy.
Co-written by Trueba and Albert Espinosa, the film explores the creation of Jofra’s iconic “Eugenio” sad clown stage persona, suggesting it was informed as much by the reluctant star’s unbridled talent and inner turmoil, as it was the product of the devoted true love and creative partnership he shared with his beautiful, talented and deeply empathetic wife and muse Conchita (Caroline Yuste).
It’s mid ‘60s Barcelona and Jofra is a serious young man, aspiring jeweller, and seemingly hesitant fiancé. Then he spots the gorgeous Conchita porting her guitar around on a bus. A delightfully awkward meet-cute ensues, fuelled by the headiness and hope of instant mutual attraction. Jofra is immediately inspired to end his engagement, take up playing guitar, and woo the diaphanous Catalan songbird for a creative and life partner. Soon, the couple are performing as the moderately successful folk music duo Els Dos, settling into marriage, kids and a club residency. But it’s a grind until fate intercedes to bring about Eugenio’s reluctant switch to professional comedy.
It’s testament to assured direction, a brilliantly understated, sharply focused script, and the masterful lead performances of Verdaguer and Yuste, this subtle cinematic dissection of the psychological nexus between the artist, his life and art is so compelling. Eugenio’s stage persona and performance techniques were so distinctly specific, studied and curated, they’re instantly recognisable and re-creatable. But Verdaguer’s extraordinarily transformative, committed, immersive, soulful performance goes way beyond uncanny mimicry, capturing both the man and spirit of the performing legend.
Yuste’s enchanting, controlled, heartfelt, revelatory performance as Conchita is also every bit the match of Verdaguer’s simmering powder keg turn as the headlining comic. The woman here is not just behind the man, she’s supporter and co-engineer of his success, invested with her own agency, value and purpose. Playful, sexy and self-assured, Conchita’s imbued with such delightful intelligence, patience, and quiet determination that she never loses her independent sense of self, regardless of all the sacrifices that she makes. She’s no hapless victim of her husband’s success and in return he never stops trying to promote her talent, always believing she’s the real star.
But Eugenio is the main course and all his defining stage persona trademarks are duly presented, from the striking Mod Squad meets Ché Guevara looks, to the funereal black attire; the constant nervous distraction of chain-smoking; the iconic smoke-lensed glasses, preventing unwanted eye contact; the familiar stool and highball (not unlike Dave Allen); the innate surgically precise comic timing and subtly modulated deadpan delivery; the brilliantly unnerving pauses and comically long uncomfortable silences; the cognitive dissonance and arch commentary of his material, made funnier by his stilted, inexpressive mode of delivery; his seemingly endless, slyly witty, laconic, proto-observational humourist catalogue of jokes (over 50,000 said to have been collected, written down, and committed to memory). It certainly doesn’t hurt that Eugenio was a genuinely funny performer, which is brilliantly recreated here in atmospheric cosy comedy nightclub sets and the later flashier breakthrough national TV spots.
There’s so much to love here, but ultimately, it’s the beautiful, delicately realised love story that is the beating heart of this film, which truly sets it apart. Eugenio may become the reluctant rising star, but it’s Conchita’s support, insight, belief and faith that fuels his ascent. Like Jokes & Cigarettes, they make a potent combination.
