Eugenia "la China" Suárez smiles at Spanish actor Álvaro Morte in Buenos Aires: the Professor in the series La casa de papel. And he returns the gesture: he is her partner in the thriller Objects, which premiered this Thursday, May 18 in Argentina. What will China feel about Sara, her character, a prostitute in a human trafficking network in Madrid?
"I'm tempted by darkness. Always. The darkness of the characters. I have a theme with that. I find attractive those who suffer and show their vulnerability," says China Suárez.
The flashes are triggered for China and Álvaro Morte at the headquarters of Pampa Films: one of the producers of Objects. It was filmed between Madrid and Jujuy, directed by the Spaniard Jorge Dorado and oscillates between black police and melodrama.
"It's a film noir with certain points of light," Álvaro Morte, who shines in the role of Mario, a manager of a vast Lost and Found Office in Madrid, tells Clarín.
One day, the police officer who plays Madrid's Verónica Echagui brings Mario an enigmatic maroon suitcase found in the river. And the dark secret she keeps will take Mario to a luxury hotel in Madrid and to Sara: the beautiful prostitute who embodies La China Suárez, prey to a human trafficking network.
Objetos is the third film by Álvaro Morte (48 years old), but his first leading role, and the fifth filmed by China Suárez (31).
Eugenia "La China" Suarez composes a prostitute, victim of a human trafficking network, in "Objects". Photo Emmanuel Fernández
A prostitute who is pure light
-Eugenia, how would you characterize Sara, your character?
"Well, she's immersed in darkness. And yet it is pure light. It was very crazy to have to work the light that Sara will mean in Mario's life, but at the same time the darkness in which she was born. That duality.
In a golden armchair at Pampa Films, China Suárez crosses her long boots with studs and platforms, which put her almost at the height of Álvaro Morte, 1.83 meters. The actress wears a mini skirt and a camel Scottish top with neckline, in tune with the shirt of Álvaro Morte. What did it mean for China to have met who played The Professor in La casa de papel?
Well, I had watched every season of the show. So working with Alvaro was amazing. I got a big surprise, because besides being a great actor he is a director and is in everything. Álvaro welcomed me very well. I was very nervous. I'm not going to lie to you.
-Why?
First, for working in a country that is not mine. I had a lot of pressure. Objects was a very important project. Sara is a very important character. Although I have been working since I was little and people think, out there, that I do it by heart or automatically, it is not like that. I take each project with a lot of responsibility and with a lot of love.
Álvaro Morte: In "Objects", his character keeps a secret personal pain. Photo Emmanuel Fernández
I was nervous because this movie is so big. And it's something I never want to lose: keep getting nervous before every project.
Sara, the character of China, will seek her own maternal light in Objects, in the midst of a network of trafficking and trade in babies. And he will live several dangers – and other surprises – with Mario (Álvaro Morte), a lost property tracker with detective thoroughness. What personal pain does Mario have? What will he discover with the seductive character of China Suárez?
"Mario is an isolated man who relates to objects and confronts people who treat others as if they were objects," anticipates the official promotion of Objects, a co-production between Spain, Argentina and Germany.
Also starring are Daniel Aráoz (in a textbook villain), Selva Alemán, Andy Gorostiaga and Maitane San Nicolás. There will be a change of register between the Madrid thriller and the oppressive multicolored light of Humahuaca and Tilcara. There will derive the script of Natxo López plots with different shades of credibility.
Living in Spain?
Mutual admiration. Between Eugenia "La China" Suarez and Álvaro Morte, who premiered "Objetos", a suspense fllme. Photo Emmanuel Fernández
-China, what does it mean to have co-starred in "Objects" with Álvaro Morte?
-Uh, for me it is tremendous to start working in Spain. It's something I've wanted for many years. I really like everything they do: cinema, Spanish series. I see them all. I think it's mutual. Spaniards really like Argentine cinema and want to come and work here. And it happens to us the other way around.
-What would it mean for you to enter the Spanish audiovisual market?
-I'm quite quiet. I'm not very ambitious, in the sense that I'm dying for Hollywood or all that. When I was younger yes, maybe, but I am very aware of the now, the job I have, and never forget that it is a privilege to work on my vocation. I know that a lot of people – most of them – can't do it. So I'm focused on this.
-A few days ago it was said that you were thinking of moving to Spain. It's true?
"No, and I have no idea where they got it. I live in Argentina. My three children live here, they go to school here and their parents live here. I travel a lot for work, but I live here in Argentina.
Álvaro Morte was surprised with the concentration of Eugenia Suárez in the filming of "Objects". Photo Emmanuel Fernández
-How would you say that the role of Sara helped you grow as an actress?
-I try to choose characters that make me grow. I also tend to be very attentive to how everyone works and I am a thief. I spend it stealing. I see how others work. I'm a re-contra observer and try to make the time I'm on set worth it. I always take a little bit of each.
-And what could you take from Álvaro Morte making "Objects"?
-I value the actor 360 degrees, which is a bit the school of Cris Morena. It is to be attentive to everything: the cameras, the shots, the continuity, the scenes. I admit that I am more clueless and unfocused to work, but I look at everything. Álvaro Morte reinforced that idea for me.
The connection with China
"And you, Alvaro?" What do you value about working with China in "Objects"?
-It was incredible, not only with her but with all the Argentine actors. But I've loved working with China. She would come to the set and be in "work mode" from the first minute to the last. On set we laughed and had moments of relaxation, but it was a bastion of concentration.
A scene from "Objetos", the film with Eugenia la China Suárez and Álvaro Morte.
There were times when you were talking to China and you noticed that it was not listening to you. I was going through his very connected text!
-Which key scene between the two of you would choose?
Álvaro Morte thinks of small, subtle sequences, but of great connection for both. "I remember a moment at the Lost and Found Office. Mario points to Sara a pile of clothes and says, 'Choose what you want.' There is an awkwardness in these characters. Are they attracted or not? There's something you don't quite define, but that's what's interesting."
China Suarez agrees: "It's this ambiguous thing about the characters. Sara offers herself to him as a woman and Mario respects her. For the first time, a man treats her as a person and not as an object. That's what drives her crazy the most."
-Having three children (Rufina, Magnolia and Amancio), how did you connect with Sara, for everything she will go through in "Objects"?
-I am very touched by everything that has to do with motherhood. I realize how privileged I am. It is not the same to be a mother in my circumstances than in Sara's. Those things move me very much. And it happens to most mothers in the world. That unconditionality of giving everything for a child. To do everything in your power for them.
-Álvaro, what traits of your character do you identify in yourself?
-There is one thing about Mario that I value very much: that he is a very brave guy. He has everything against him, and yet he pulls forward because he thinks that's the right thing to do. No matter what. Mario is consistent with that.
-How did you work personally to embody Sara and Mario?
Suárez: It was a joint work with the director, Jorge Dorado. He knew each character and the story well. And Maitane San Nicolás, who is an acting coach and is in the film as the character of Ana (another prostitute), helped me a lot. Thanks to Maitane I arrived quite calm and confident on set.
Morte: I never try to make the character suffer as I suffer, or to love as I do. I didn't want to show the camera how Alvaro Morte was suffering through Mario. For me it's about making the audience understand that something is really happening, when it is still a fiction. I love acting like it's the art of lying.
WD
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