Tetro (2009)

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

Mauricio Kartun (verse "Fausta") and
Francis Ford Coppola (written by)

Release Date:

26 June 2009 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Every Family Has a Secret

Plot:

Bennie travels to Buenos Aires to find his long-missing older brother, a once-promising writer who is now a remnant of his former self. Bennie's discovery of his brother's near-finished play might hold the answer to understanding their shared past and renewing their bond.

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Writer | Cruise Ship | 18th Birthday | Play

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Vincent Gallo	...	Angelo 'Tetro' Tetrocini
Alden Ehrenreich	...	Bennie
Maribel Verdú	...	Miranda
Silvia Pérez	...	Silvana
Rodrigo De la Serna	...	José (as Rodrigo De La Serna)
Erica Rivas	...	Ana (as Érica Rivas)
Mike Amigorena	...	Abelardo
Lucas Di Conza	...	Young Tetro
Adriana Mastrángelo	...	Ángela
Klaus Maria Brandauer	...	Carlo / Alfie Tetrocini
Leticia Brédice	...	Josefina
Sofía Gala	...	María Luisa
Jean-François Casanovas	...	Enrique
Carmen Maura	...	Alone
Francesca De Sapio	...	Amalia
Ximena Maria Iacono	...	Naomi
Susana Giménez	...	Herself
Pochi Ducasse	...	Lili
Nora Elisabeth Robles	...	Naomi - Dancer
Pedro Arturo Calveyra	...	Carlo - Dancer
Mariela Noemi Magenta	...	Ángela - Dancer
Marcelo Fabio Carte	...	Tetro - Dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Guadalupe Docampo
Juliana Giambroni

Directed by
Francis Ford Coppola

Writing credits
Mauricio Kartun		(verse "Fausta")
Francis Ford Coppola		written by

Produced by
Mariela Besuievski	....	co-producer: Spain (as Mariela Besuievsky)
Francis Ford Coppola	....	producer
Valerio De Paolis	....	producer: Italy (as Valerio Di Paolis)
Gerardo Herrero	....	co-producer: Spain
Anahid Nazarian	....	executive producer
Fred Roos	....	executive producer
Masa Tsuyuki	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Osvaldo Golijov

Cinematography by
Mihai Malaimare Jr.

Film Editing by
Walter Murch

Casting by
Walter Rippell

Production Design by
Sebastián Orgambide

Art Direction by
Federico García Cambero

Set Decoration by
Paulina López Meyer		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Cecilia Monti

Makeup Department
Osvaldo Esperón	....	key hair stylist
Norberto Poli	....	makeup artist
Beata Wojtowicz	....	key makeup artist
Pepito Juez	....	hair stylist: Spain (uncredited)
Gregorio Ros	....	makeup artist: Spain (uncredited)

Production Management
Adriana Rotaru	....	production manager
Winnie Baert	....	production supervisor: Tornasol Films, Spain (uncredited)
Yousaf Bokhari	....	unit production manager: Spain (uncredited)
Helen Marti Donoghue	....	unit manager: Spain (uncredited)
María Merediz	....	post-production supervisor: Tornasol Films, Spain (uncredited)
James T. Mockoski	....	post-production supervisor (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sol Aramburu	....	second assistant director
Roman Coppola	....	second unit director
Juan Pablo Laplace	....	assistant director
Mariana Wainstein	....	third assistant director
Amilcar Machado	....	first assistant director: second unit (uncredited)
Óscar Manero	....	second assistant director: Spain (uncredited)

Art Department
Jorge Ferrari	....	designer: ballet
Mario Gargallo Climent	....	construction manager: Spain (uncredited)
Javier González Duato	....	construction coordinator: Spain (uncredited)
Martín Libert	....	props (uncredited)
Luis Pastor	....	carpenter: Spain (uncredited)
Luciana Quartaruolo	....	props (uncredited)
Miguel Rodriguez	....	swing gang (uncredited)

Sound Department
José Caldararo	....	boom operator
Vicente D'Elia	....	sound effects editor
Vicente D'Elia	....	sound recordist
Bechen de Loredo	....	foley mixer
Leandro de Loredo	....	adr editor
Leandro de Loredo	....	adr recordist
Leandro de Loredo	....	sound supervisor
Federico Esquerro	....	foley editor
Federico Esquerro	....	foley recordist
Juan Ferro	....	sound editor
Colin Guthrie	....	sound mix technician
Pete Horner	....	sound re-recording mixer
Walter Murch	....	sound re-recordist
Francisco Pedemonte	....	assistant sound editor
Sin Cohen	....	mix engineer (uncredited)
Mario González	....	adr recordist (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Tomas Kalhous	....	head of 2D: UPP
Tomas Kalhous	....	senior compositor: UPP
Vincent Badia	....	flame operator: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Kevin Bailey	....	additional visual effects: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Stepán Batousek	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Ezequiel Borovinsky	....	visual effects (uncredited)
Ryan Bozajian	....	visual effects artist (uncredited)
Dennis Dallen	....	senior compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Mario Dubec	....	3d artist: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Blanka Faitova	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Miro Gal	....	senior flame artist: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Ales Gargulak	....	digital compositor (uncredited)
Tomas Hajek	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Lukas Herrmann	....	matte painter: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Jan Heusler	....	senior compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Zuzana Hlavkova	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Milos Hudec	....	data operator: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Dalibor Janda	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Jana Jurnickova	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Helena Keslova	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Pavel Kolar	....	visual effects artist (uncredited)
Vít Komrzý	....	visual effects producer: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Vaclav Kostun	....	matchmove artist (uncredited)
Sara Kramarz	....	production accountant: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Tomas Krejzek	....	3d artist: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Jirí Linhart	....	digital effects artist (uncredited)
Petr Masek	....	digital compositor (uncredited)
Vladimír Matousek	....	3d artist: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Jaroslav Matys	....	head of visual effects production: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Daniel Melich	....	matte painter: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Juan Pablo Menchon	....	additional visual effects (uncredited)
Viktor Muller	....	visual effects supervisor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Tomas Munzar	....	visual effects artist (uncredited)
Monika Pavlickova	....	visual effects executive producer: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Robert Pik	....	on-set visual effects assistant: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Katerina Popelova	....	visual effects coordinator: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Marek Ruth	....	senior compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Tereza Severova	....	matte painter: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Jiri Stamfest	....	matte artist (uncredited)
Jakub Szilvasi	....	rotoscope artist (uncredited)
Alejo Varisto	....	visual effects coordinator (uncredited)
Petr Vcelicka	....	compositor: UPP Prague (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Agustin Barrutia	....	best boy
Daniel Ciurleo	....	gaffer
Leonardo Hermo	....	assistant camera
Roger Martínez	....	camera assistant: Spain
Miguel Rivarola	....	electrician
Massimo Ruggieri	....	assistant camera
Alicia Schemper	....	still photographer
Enrique Vélez	....	grip
Jorge Alcocer	....	rigging electrician: Spain (uncredited)
Adriano Castoro	....	still photographer: Spain (uncredited)
Jordi Florensa	....	camera assistant: Spain (uncredited)
Mark Durdant Hollamby	....	grip: Spain (uncredited)
Carlos Marcelo Lanza	....	best boy: Spain (uncredited)
Jonathan Lee	....	key grip: Spain (uncredited)
Antonio López	....	rigging electrician: Spain (uncredited)
Alejandro Ortigueira	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Ricardo Rodríguez	....	gaffer: Spain (uncredited)
Jorge Sánchez	....	rigging electrician: Spain (uncredited)

Casting Department
Ileana Rippel	....	casting associate (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Victoria Cachan	....	costumer
Jorge Ferrari	....	ballet costumes
Gabriela Minzi	....	costumer
Verónica Schliemann	....	assistant costume designer
Ana Gitrama	....	seamstress: Spain (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Valerio De Paolis	....	post-production: Italy (as Valerio Di Paolis)
Walter Slater Murch	....	associate editor
Ezequiel Borovinsky	....	first assistant film editor (uncredited)
Carolina Krasñansky	....	post-production coordinator (uncredited)
Juan Pablo Menchon	....	second assistant film editor (uncredited)
Jim Passon	....	color timer (uncredited)

Music Department
Jeremy Flower	....	composer: source music
Jeremy Flower	....	music editor
Claudio Ragazzi	....	composer: additional music
Lev Zhurbin	....	music preparation
Dante Anzolini	....	orchestra conductor (uncredited)
Gonzalo Dominguez	....	musician: "Fausta" (uncredited)
Rick Jacobsohn	....	music recording engineer (uncredited)
Bernardo Monk	....	musician: saxophone (uncredited)
Claudio Ragazzi	....	musician: guitar (uncredited)
Dawn Upshaw	....	musician: vocals (uncredited)
Michael Ward-Bergeman	....	musician: accordion (uncredited)
Lev Zhurbin	....	additional orchestrator (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Leonardo Bargiga	....	driver (uncredited)
Jose Castro	....	driver (uncredited)
Frederic Fabrega	....	driver: Spain (uncredited)
Richard Fábrega	....	driver: Spain (uncredited)
Diego Igartua	....	transportation coordinator (uncredited)
Alejandro Ramirez	....	driver: Spain (uncredited)
Sergio Reyes	....	driver (uncredited)
Ricardo Villalba	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Valerio De Paolis	....	additional preparation: Italy (as Valerio Di Paolis)
Joaquina Llambias	....	location manager
Ana María Stekelman	....	choreographer
Marisa Albares	....	account assistant: Tornasol Films, Spain (uncredited)
Aida Argüelles	....	cashier: Spain (uncredited)
Nuria Martín Chucrel	....	production assistant: Spain (uncredited)
Jim Dobson	....	publicist (uncredited)
Frederic Fabrega	....	production staff: Spain (uncredited)
Guillermo Flórez Muñiz	....	production assistant: Spain (uncredited)
Adam Frost	....	assistant: Zoetrope (uncredited)
Fabian Gabelli	....	animal wrangler (uncredited)
Ignacio García	....	location manager (uncredited)
Matías Goldberg	....	production assistant (uncredited)
María Guisado	....	publicist (uncredited)
Asia Jarzyna	....	production coordinator: Spain (uncredited)
Amilcar Machado	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Virginia Maillo	....	assistant: director, Spain (uncredited)
Isabel Mariscal	....	legal advisor: Tornasol Films, Spain (uncredited)
Rocio Martinez	....	publicist: UPP Prague (uncredited)
Paula Massa	....	production coordinator (uncredited)
Juani Merino	....	head of accounts: Tornasol Films, Spain (uncredited)
James T. Mockoski	....	archivist (uncredited)
Federico Noejovich	....	location manager (uncredited)
Luciana Olmedo-Wehitt	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Sofía Reynal	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Evan Rosenstock	....	language coach (uncredited)
Fernando Salem	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Lola Silberman	....	publicist: Argentina (uncredited)
Kathleen Talbert	....	publicist: U.S. (uncredited)

Production Companies

• American Zoetrope (presents)
• Zoetrope Argentina (co-production)
• Tornasol Films (co-production)
• BIM Distribuzione (co-production)
• Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA) (with the participation of)
• Gerencia de Fomento (with the participation of)
• Televisión Española (TVE) (with the participation of)
• Canal+ España (with the participation of)
• Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA) (with the support of)
• Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) (with the support of)

Distributors

• American Zoetrope (2009) (USA) (theatrical)
• BIM Distribuzione (2009) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Clap - Produção de Filmes (2009) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Comstock Group (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Memento Films (2009) (France) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2009) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Alta Films (2009) (Spain) (all media)
• Feelgood Entertainment (2009) (Greece) (all media)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2010) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2009) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Imovision (2010) (Brazil) (all media)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Mongrel Media (2010) (Canada) (DVD)
• Paramount Japan (2012) (Japan) (DVD)
• Soda Pictures (2010) (UK) (all media)

Special Effects

• Nasa FX (special effects) (uncredited)
• Universal Production Partners (UPP) (visual effects by) (as UPP Prague)

Other Companies

• Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU)  thanks (uncredited)
• Asociación Civil La Colifata, Salud Mental y Comunicación  thanks (uncredited)
• Canal Plus  special thanks to: footage from "Tales of Hoffmann" courtesy of, © 1951 Canal + Image UK Ltd. (uncredited)
• Cantoria Alberto Grau  choir (uncredited)
• Celebrity Cruises  thanks (uncredited)
• Cementerio de Chacarita  thanks (uncredited)
• Chandon Argentina  thanks (uncredited)
• Citroën  thanks (uncredited)
• Criterion Collection, The  special thanks to: footage from "Tales of Hoffmann" courtesy of, © 1951 Canal + Image UK Ltd. (uncredited)
• Criterion Collection, The  special thanks to: supplying music and picture of "Tales of Hoffmann" (uncredited)
• Etcheberry e Hijos  thanks: customs brokers/freight forwarders (uncredited)
• Fiat  thanks (uncredited)
• Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires  thanks (uncredited)
• Grupo GIP  construction: Spain (uncredited)
• Los Glaciares National Park  thanks (uncredited)
• National Children's Choir of Argentina  choir (uncredited)
• Renault  thanks (uncredited)
• Swarovski  thanks (uncredited)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexuality and nudity

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA | Argentina | Spain | Italy

Language:

English | Spanish | French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:R (certificate #45641) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Brazil:12 | France:U | Ireland:15A | Mexico:B15

Filming Locations:

Argentina

Company:

American Zoetrope

Trivia:

Francis Ford Coppola's take on the autobiographical elements of his film: "nothing in it happened, but all of it is true".

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in the movie Tetro stumbles into the kitchen with a broken leg and knocks over some furniture while lighting a cigarette using a burner on the stove. he ignites the burner by just turning the knob on the stove. A few minutes later Miranda must use a match to light a burner on the same stove-top.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Bennie:[referring to Tetro's play] So what was it about?
Tetro:Rivalry.
Bennie:You're writing the story of our father...

Movie Connections:

Featured in "¿Qué fue de tu vida?: Rodrigo De la Serna" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Bandiero Rossa

Coppola back on form

17 year-old Bennie works as a waiter on a cruiseship. When the ship suffers engine difficulties and docks in Buenos Aires, he uses the opportunity to attempt to reconnect with his estranged brother Tetro, a once promising writer. He is welcomed with open arms by Tetro's girlfriend, Miranda. She longs to know the truth behind her boyfriends past and what made him the misanthrope he is today. Tetro is hostile towards his brother, his plan was to never see any of his family again, and so keeps him at arms length. Bennie discovers an incomplete play, written in code whilst his brother was undergoing psychiatric treatment. He decides to finish the play and enter it in a festival run by Argentina's most powerful critic, Alone. Faced with this upheaval, Tetro is forced to come to terms with his relationship to his younger brother and his father, a famous conductor.

Tetro is, at its core, a film about family, in particular the relationship between brothers and their Father. A theme Francis Ford Coppola has immersed himself in before, most notably in The Godfather and Rumble Fish. Through a series of flashbacks we are given a glimpse of major events in Tetro's youth, his relationship with his father (played by Klaus Brandauer) and his subsequent departure. There are huge family secrets known only to Tetro and revealed to Bennie in an ending which echoes great literary and operatic works. Coppolas love of opera and theater is stamped all over the script and the city of Buenos Aires seems to be the perfect background in which to set this story.

Shot stunningly in digital monochrome with colour flashbacks, it has some aesthetic similarities to Rumble Fish. Coppola and cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. reportedly site On The Waterfront and La Notte as big influences on the films visual style. There are certainly elements of both here, with the film also retaining its visual sense of self. It is operatic in both its narrative and its mise-en-scene. The idea of cutting between colour and monochrome as well as changing aspect ratios sounds as if it would be jarring, and it typically is. But for the purposes of Tetro it works perfectly.

Seen as a controversial choice by some, Vincent Gallo brings an edge to the titular character that some other actors may have lacked. However it is newcomer Alden Ehrenreich who steals the show as Bennie, a wayward teenager looking for guidance and approval. Maribel Verdu, as Miranda, provides the conduit between the two in a typicaly solid performance.

Hollywood is littered with once great directors who have fallen from grace, which makes Tetro all the more remarkable as a return to form from one of the greatest, Francis Ford Coppola.