Barfly
Barbet Schroeder
Henry Chinaski drinks, fights and writes poetry. When he meets Wanda, a woman who is as lost as he is, it is the meeting of two people going downhill fast, who love each other, run from each other, tear each other part in a chaotic world. The two dropouts complement each other in this relationship marked by violence and alcohol.
With : Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Alice Krige, J. C. Quinn, Frank Stallone
Screenplay : Charles Bukowski
Image : Robby Müller
Editing : Eva Gardos
Music : Jack Baran
Costumes : Milena Canonero
Screenplay : Charles Bukowski
Image : Robby Müller
Editing : Eva Gardos
Music : Jack Baran
Costumes : Milena Canonero
Production : Golan-Globus Production
Distribution: Hollywood Classics
Distribution: Hollywood Classics
Faithful to his method, Barbet Schroeder immersed himself in Bukowski's world recording dozens of hours of interviews with the writer. "Not a single word in the film wouldn't be Bukowski's". That was Barbet's requirement when setting up the project, which took eight years to complete. He decided to describe a passage in Bukowski's life when he was a barfly, something about which Bukowski had never written. The whole film is imbued with the presence of alcohol. It is the junction between the two heroes, who are connected by alcohol at their first meeting. "Barfly is that place in life where time doesn't exist: finding through pictures the feeling of dilation that alcohol gives" (Barbet Schroeder). With his daring choice of actors (Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway) and an unconventional scriptwriter (Charles Bukowski), Schroeder made his first American film a long way from studio-shot Hollywood productions.