Martin Scorsese, before Queen Letizia: "I aspire to make films as if it were music, the purest of arts"

Luis Martínez Madrid

Madrid

Updated Friday, February 2, 2024-16:47

• Martin Scorsese "The question is not who was complicit in the extermination of the Osage, but who was not"

• Interview Martin Scorsese: "It is time to make restitution to the victims of slavery and Native Americans"

• Review The Assassins of the Moon: Ecstasy and refutation of Western cinema (*****)

With royal honors. This is how Martin Scorsese was received at the Film Academy on Friday mid-morning. There was no music band, but the president of the institution that distributes 'goyas' himself was in charge of humming the melody of

'Taxi driver'

as a welcome. It was difficult for him to identify the music of Bernard Herrmann, but the gesture left little room for doubt. How well Robert De Niro does playing Fernando Méndez Leite. Or vice versa. On the stage, the person responsible for '

The Assassins of the Moon

', the film with 10 nominations that in some way came to promote among the Spanish colleagues who vote at the Oscars, and, as host,

Rodrigo Cortés,

a Spanish filmmaker whose latest film, '

Escape

', is produced by Scorsese himself. In the front row,

Queen Letizia,

and behind her an assembly hall packed with professionals in the field who have become, even if only for one day, dedicated fans. "You'll forgive me for not speaking Spanish," the honoree apologized, "but it's even worse than my English." Laughter and photos, in this order.

It was not a typical meeting. There were no questions, no requests from the listener, not even a miserable bouquet of flowers. It was, as was noted, a dialogue. So it was. From the montage to the use of music, passing through the meaning and function of the credits or the structure of the plot of his films, Cortés was invoking the powers of the "magician" (as he defined him) and the person questioned, as appropriate, was doing the most basic of magic based on simple, pure and evident sympathy. And wisdom too. Of all the more or less classic Hollywood still standing, no one has aged as gracefully as Scorsese. "He says there are 27 of my films. He never looked back. I'm only worried about my career from now on.

The truth is that I tell my life by films, not by years.

I don't know in which year I made one and another, but I do remember what I was doing when I filmed

'Raging Bull'

or '

Casino

'," he said by way of introduction.

Queen Letizia smiles upon arrival at the debate on the film industry in which Scorsese participates.FERNANDO VILLAREFE

The first thing he surprised the audience with was a confession. It takes any more or less seasoned movie buff a while to reproduce the plot of '

The Departed

' with more or less reliability. Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson were there; There was a brutal scene with the mole's arm in a cast, and it was a frenzy of pure energy. But in what order did things happen? Well, to the consolation of many, Scorsese doesn't know either. "I admit it, it's hard for me to keep track of my films. I'm still not sure what was happening in '

The Departed

'. Neither is my screenwriter." Laughter. But don't panic, it wasn't a confession from a forgetful old man, but from a thorough filmmaker. "Over time, my cinema has become an investigation of structure. For example, '

The Irishman

'. What matters is the way in which the fragmentation of the story leads to the redemption that the protagonist seeks.

I aspire to make films as If it were music, the purest of arts

. "

And we believe him.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese greets upon arrival.FERNANDO VILLAREFE

And from there, it went to editing, that is, to editing. The interviewer Cortés made an effort, both in name and attitude, to gloss the great admiration he has for the dry cutting of the proverbial editor

Thelma Schoonmaker

. And there Scorsese remembered the years of his youth in love with Eisenstein's expressive montage. Until he discovered the long shots of Max Ophüls, first, and then Jean Renoir. And immediately afterwards, the superimposition of images from New York's avant-garde cinema... "I have always liked camera movement. I admire the way Brian de Palma uses it in 'The Untouchables', but over

time you learn that "simplicity is more expressive than pyrotechnics

. "

Clean cut and something else.

Now, the credits. It is not usual for a director to stop to talk about the most forgotten part of his job. And even more so when, in truth, Scorsese did not want to gloss the figure of Saul Bass or any other giant of the art of the introduction. No, what bothers the teacher responsible for 'The Last Temptation of Christ' (by the way, he is going to return to the life of Jesus and see how Christian lawyers take it) is what bothers us all. Why are they so stomach-long? "I like the classics. The ones in which only a few essential names appear on a still image. Furthermore, they served a purpose, it was on them when the protectionist made the focus and sound adjustments. Now one logo after another appears that never "You know when the movie really starts.

I've sometimes confused one of these logos with the movie (laughs),"

he said and immediately afterwards he was proud of what he achieved in

'The Assassins of the Moon'.

Few, pretty and to the point.

Perhaps the least surprising moment of the meeting came when he talked about his work with actors. She loves to talk about this matter. And she remembered again, as she always does when she has the opportunity, interview or tribute, her almost symbiotic relationship with De Niro. "Every time Robert has an idea he doesn't let him explain it to me. I tell him to just do it." And from there, to the most emotional moment in memory of his essential and recently deceased collaborator

Robbie Robertson.

It was he who gave him the three CDs from which the song

I'm Shipping Up To Boston

that presides over 'Infiltrados' came from. "As soon as I heard it I saw it clearly," he said as if embracing the memory of his friend.

His childhood memories were left for last. Scorsese confessed to being a son of radio, "the medium that most and best excites the imagination." And that is the reason why he included the radio epilogue that is also an epitaph in 'The Assassins of the Moon'. "I didn't want that Osage tragedy to become mere entertainment. I went with my family to Molly's grave and it hurt me.

I wanted the film to be a way to ask for forgiveness from the Osage,"

he concluded. And at the end, the perfect memory of the music of '

Taxi driver'

. The real one.