August 25th: THAT DAY (Raúl Ruiz, 2003)

An eccentric heiress unaware of in-family scheming to steal her fortune crosses paths with an escaped mental asylum patient.

Raúl Ruiz was a Chilean-born filmmaker who fled his native country after the 1973 coup d'état which put General Augusto Pinochet in power. Settling in France and working in Western Europe, Ruiz completed over 100 films since the mid 1960's and worked with international stars such as Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, John Malkovich, Isabelle Huppert, and Marcello Mastroianni.

After his ambitious adaptation of Marcel Proust's Time Regained, Ruiz took a step back for a more modest production, a break from his usual surrealism and labyrinthine plots. He also changed locations, setting his new film in Switzerland.

The cast is headed by Elsa Zylberstein (I've Loved You So Long), in her third film for the director. She's joined by Bernard Girardeau (Ridicule), Edith Scob (Holy Motors), and New Wave icon Michel Piccoli (Contempt, Belle de Jour).

While in the service of a more straightforward story, Ruiz's camera is far from restless, with his trademark unusual POV shots, deep focus and forced perspective, and baroque compositions. The musical score was composed by his long-time collaborator Jorge Arriagada.

The farcical black comedy has been called a send-up of New Wave founder Claude Chabrol's bourgeois murder stories, though there are also local references abound, including nods to Swiss-born Jean-Luc Godard, Swiss detective story writer Friedrich Duerrenmatt, and ruminations on the capitalism and greed that helps drive the country's notorious banking system.

That Day (Ce jour-là) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and also screened stateside at the Sundance, Chicago, and San Francisco festivals.

Running time is approx. 100 minutes.