On June 15, the Spanish comedy Waiting for Dalí, directed by David Pujol, opens in Russian cinemas. This is a very summery, happy and sunny film about the art of living, loving and cooking. We tell you why else this movie is interesting and why you should definitely see it on the big screen.
Brothers Fernando and Alberto, a misunderstood chef and activist, are forced to go into hiding in Cadaqués, the idyllic coastal town where legendary artist Salvador Dalí lives. They take jobs at a run-down waterfront restaurant owned by the eccentric Jules. His obsessive dream, to entice Dalí to dinner, reveals Fernando’s genius and creates in him the desire to create the greatest culinary masterpiece for the greatest of masters. And yet, Dalí continues to be elusive and Alberto continues to sow discomfort. The brothers are about to lose everything they created. The result is a sun-kissed love story that sings of genius with a strong, passionate voice that calls to love life with all your soul.
The film’s director and screenwriter was David Pujol, a great connoisseur of the personality of Salvador Dalí. He made two films about the great artist: “Dalí’s Last Masterpiece” (2015) and “Salvador Dalí: In Search of Immortality” (2018), which were awarded awards and screened at major international festivals. The novelty “Waiting for Dalí” becomes the crown of the trilogy, the first and only about the artist, approved by the Gala-Dalí Foundation due to the director’s excellent knowledge of the figure of the master.
The action takes place in the Spanish city of Cadaqués, located on the picturesque Catalan coast near Barcelona. One kilometer from the city is the Dalí House Museum. He bought a fishing house on the coast in the 1930s. The Dalis, Salvador and Gala, have lived in this quiet bay for more than half a century. The artist’s house is unusual outside and inside, which is not surprising, given its character and habits. After acquiring the first fishing cabin, the couple began to buy neighboring buildings: small outbuildings and cabins were combined into a kind of maze located on several levels. Now the house in Cadaqués closes the so-called tourist “Dalí triangle”, which, in addition to it, includes the Dalí Museum in Figueres and the Castle of Púbol (which the artist gave to his wife).
The restaurant “El Surreal”, which has become one of the central places of action, in which the heroes of the film try to lure the artist, was inspired by one of the most famous restaurants in the world – El Bulli. Owner of four Michelin stars, it has repeatedly been recognized as the most famous restaurant in the world: it is open only five days a week, six months a year. The rest of the time, owner and chef Ferran Adria travels the world in search of new culinary discoveries. Some 600,000 people a year dream of climbing El Bulli, but only 8,000 can be on the list of the lucky ones.
The film marked almost the entire world of Spanish cinema. Thus, the owner of the restaurant El Surreal was played by José García, known for his roles in Sin Frenos, ¡Viva Francia!, Asterix y Obelix: Celestial. Iván Massaga (“Platform” and “Pan’s Labyrinth”) landed the role of Fernando, and Paul López (“7 Sociopaths”) played the role of his brother Alberto. Clara Ponso, known for her work From Right to Left, played Lola, Fernando’s passion and Jules’s daughter.
