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Paz Alicia Garciadiego Unveils Her Armchair at the 22nd FICM and Presents a Restored Version of Arturo Ripstein's PROFUNDO CARMESÍ

Ariadna Lucas Coronel

Before the screening of the restored version of Profundo carmesí (1996, dir. Arturo Ripstein) at the 22nd Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), Paz Alicia Garciadiego, screenwriter of the film, was honored with the unveiling of an armchair bearing her name. The ceremony was attended by Alejandro Ramírez, president of FICM, and Daniela Michel, founder and general director of the festival. Profundo carmesí is part of the 22nd FICM's Restored Classics Program.

Alejandro Ramírez thanked Paz Alicia Garciadiego for her presence and emphasized that it is an honor for the festival to preserve her legacy. "All the special guests who have left their mark on national and world cinema are given a gift so that they can stay with us at the festival, not only for the nine days of October but throughout the year."

Following the unveiling of her armchair, Garciadiego went into detail about the making of the film, since it had to be cut so that it could be screened: “Profundo carmesí is a film that has given us - I speak for Ripstein and myself - a great deal of satisfaction, but it also gave us a great deal of pain. When it was going to be screened in Venice, our French producer forced us to cut about 25 minutes of material.”

She lamented that it was morally censored at the time, since, while a fragment had to be removed due to screening rules (a film could not last more than two hours), there were also moral biases.

The story takes place in 1949. Coral Fabre, a hospice nurse struggling to raise her two children, dreams of the image of Charles Boyer. In the heart doctor's section of one of the magazines she usually reads, she finds an advertisement for one Nicolas Estrella, who boasts about his resemblance to the popular French actor and describes himself as a Spanish gentleman looking for a romantic relationship. Coral decides to write to him.

Speaking of the restored version by director Arturo Ripstein, the screenwriter said it was a triumph and revenge to be able to release this version of the film.