Augusto Roa Bastos and Argentine Film

Abstract

A paradigm shift in the Argentine film industry occurred in 1956.¹ In that year, the director, actor, and film writer Armando Bo (1914–81) introduced his lover, Isabel Sarli (1935), to the Argentine public.² Correctly judging that the Argentine fílmgoing public was ready for a sexpot in the image of Bridgette Bardot and various American models, Bo (who himself acted in more than fifty potboilers) went on to work with Sarli in twenty films between 1956 and 1979. After Bo’s death, Sarli (who is still alive), except for some minor roles, never filmed again. Armando Bo had a perfect formula: Sarli’s body was voluptuous to a degree unimagined before in Argentine cinema; Sarli, although she expressed reservations in written sources, was willing to display her body in remarkable ways, including full frontal nudity and the self-manipulation of her breast; Bo was willing to put together production projects based on the money of any and all comers, which gave Sarli maximum international exposure, including the United States; and, finally, Bo never let the exigencies of coherent plot development stand in the way of Sarli’s disrobing.