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The Aura

Play trailer Poster for The Aura 2005 2h 14m Crime Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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87% Tomatometer 47 Reviews 76% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Shy taxidermist Espinosa (Ricardo Darín), who has epilepsy, dreams of committing the perfect crime. He unexpectedly gets the chance when he accidentally kills a shady character during a hunting trip. The victim had planned to rob an armored car carrying casino profits, and Espinosa takes over the scheme. But his lack of criminal experience and his illness put his life in real danger.
The Aura

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Critics Consensus

The Aura is a highly original and cerebral thriller that maintains its suspense from start to finish.

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Critics Reviews

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Geoffrey O'Brien Film Comment Magazine If less neatly realized than Nine Queens, The Aura is the more ambitious film. It is all the more haunting for suggesting narrative possibilities that Bielinsky was just beginning to explore. Nov 19, 2013 Full Review Geoff Pevere Toronto Star A fuzzy attempt at significance that seems as aimlessly lost in the woods as its heist-plotting characters. Rated: 2/4 Mar 9, 2007 Full Review Marrit Ingman Austin Chronicle Visually, the film is almost perfect, with a weird, expressionistic sensibility considerably more sophisticated than the low-fi street shooting of Nine Queens, while the imaginative piano score trickles between pastoral harmony and primal discord. Rated: 4/5 Feb 3, 2007 Full Review Diego Batlle Otroscines.com [Bielinsky] once again hits the bull's eye with his precise handling of suspense. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/5 Nov 15, 2023 Full Review Ken Eisner Georgia Straight This sounds like it has the makings of a first-rate crime thriller, and it is, but the writer-director's aim is closer to that of a more playful Andrei Tarkovsky. Jul 6, 2010 Full Review Amber Wilkinson Eye for Film Tense and twisty, this is what thrillers should be about. Rated: 5/5 Jun 13, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Interesting thriller. I certainly couldn't predict what was going to happen. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The Aura is a film that has a lot of film noir vibes to it. The story is about a guy who is leading a boring life and so he fantasizes about pulling off the perfect heist. As the film progresses his fantasies start to come closer to reality, but not in the way he expected. The film takes its time, and is very quiet. It makes The Aura a good candidate for someone who isn’t accustomed to foreign films, because there isn’t a ton of dialogue, so you don’t spend a lot of time reading subtitles. However, it also makes the pace feel slow, and it came dangerously close to annoying me when I was ready to sprint into the next scene and the movie hadn’t wrapped up the current one. That being said, it was a minor frustration that would usually pass quick when they did move on, because I was always excited to see what would happen next. Based on my limited experience, I think Ricardo Darin is one of our greatest living actors. So much of this film hinges on him carrying us through the plot with nothing more than his facial expressions and body language. Here he plays a man who is in over his head, and he does it so perfectly that I was right there with him, and concerned what would happen next. Some of the decisions and assumptions he makes are a little far-fetched and illogical, but it worked to progress the plot forward. I also appreciated how The Aura built tension gradually and never once gave away where the plot was going. They also used a trick where they would show us the thoughts in the main character’s head as if they were really happening. This keeps you guessing when they step back out of his mind, because you never know if things will play out as he imagined them. One unique aspect of this film is the fact that the main character deals with epilepsy, which is preceded by the titular Aura. There are a few times when he collapses in a seizure, and there was always the threat it could happen again at an inopportune time. I was a bit surprised how little they used this as a plot device. It almost felt like a superfluous element that they could have cut from the film completely because it was so insignificant to the story. Perhaps if he experienced the seizures with greater frequency it would have created more tension for the audience because we would fear it could hit at any moment, but it didn’t seem to be a major issue for the protagonist. That’s not to say they never use it in the plot, and the movie was tense even without that aspect. I enjoyed The Aura despite its flaws, and continue to become a bigger fan of Ricardo Darin. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/27/18 Full Review Audience Member The last movie made by Fabian Bielinsky with Rircado Darin. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member cinegeek.de Our Daily Free Stream: El aura (engl. subt.). Patagonien, eine mythische dunkle Welt. El Aura, der letzte Film des viel zu früh verstorbenen Fabian Bielinsky, lebt vom unheilvollen Wald Patagoniens - wie eine Reise ins Herz der Finsternis. Tiefer und tiefer dringen wir vor, bis uns der Wald umschliesst. Die Zeit vergeht immer langsamer, scheint schliesslich still zu stehen. Auf einmal entdecken wir eine Hütte mit Diagrammen, die ein Geheimnis verkünden. Wie eine Geistergeschichte aus dem 19. Jahrhundert. Der epileptische Präparator Esteban hat ein photographisches Gedächtnis. Er lebt in der Besessenheit, dass ihn diese Gabe zum perfekten Verbrechen befähigt. Esteban (Ricardo Darin) ist ein Mensch frei von jeglicher Bindung und persönlichem Ausdruck. Er lebt isoliert von der Aussenwelt. Während der Jagd erschiesst er versehentlich einen Einheimischen und erfährt, dass er den Komplizen eines Raubüberfalls getötet hat. Esteban nimmt die Position des Toten ein und übernimmt dessen Identität. Es scheint, als würden unheimliche Kräfte den Präparator treiben. Seine Epilepsie, seine "Aura", er nimmt sie wahr wie eine Tür im Kopf, durch welche diese Kräfte eindringen. Die sinnliche Langsamkeit mit der die Geschichte erzählt wird, die Stille des Protagonisten, die hypnotisierende Kraft der Landschaft - eine beunruhigende Stimmung vermittelt El Aura, bis sich der Film zu einem Bankraub Thriller steigert. Nach der suggestiven Verträumtheit des Anfangs war ich allerdings etwas enttäuscht, dass wir im Finale nur Gangster geboten bekommen, die man so auch aus anderen Filmen kennt. Bielinsky hatte mit seinem zweiten Film begonnen, neue Ausdrucksformen zu finden, um eine Geschichte zu erzählen. Wir können nur erahnen, wo die Reise hingegangen wäre. Der Argentinier starb mit 46 Jahren. mehr auf cinegeek.de Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Fabián Bielinsky vuelve a trabajar de la mano de Darín. Esteban Espinosa (Darín) es invitado por un amigo a pasar un fin de semana de caza. El mismo se va complicando a raíz de un homicidio involuntario y accidental. Descubre que Dietrich (Manuel Rodal), el difunto, estaba en inmerso en la planificación de un crimen. Espinosa, para no despertar sospechas sobre el homicidio accidental, deberá ocupar el lugar de Espinosa, como si se tratase de un nuevo socio Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the best movies of all time. Dark, realistic, incredibly insightful, El Aura transports the viewer into a world where control struggles to win against randomness. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Aura

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Shy taxidermist Espinosa (Ricardo Darín), who has epilepsy, dreams of committing the perfect crime. He unexpectedly gets the chance when he accidentally kills a shady character during a hunting trip. The victim had planned to rob an armored car carrying casino profits, and Espinosa takes over the scheme. But his lack of criminal experience and his illness put his life in real danger.
Director
Fabián Bielinsky
Screenwriter
Fabián Bielinsky
Production Co
Patagonik Film Group, Tornasol Films S.A., Canal+ España, Aura Films
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
Spanish
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Nov 15, 2006
Release Date (Streaming)
May 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$56.1K
Runtime
2h 14m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital