With no murders, kidnappings or physical violence, El encargado, the Argentine series starring Guillermo Francella, offers a seductive white intrigue full of incidents that reveal the small and large pettiness of human behavior. It also subtly questions the complex relationship of subordination between servant and master that works both ways. And how well explored is the film The Servant by Joseph Losey, based on Robin Maugham’s novel of the same name, cleverly adapted by Harold Pinter.
Far from the inconsistencies of Losey’s Servant, the character of the Argentine series airing Disney+ in Spain has plenty of modern villains. Because Eliseo, a mature porter of a wealthy class farm in Buenos Aires, with almost 30 years of service is a dedicated servant of the community of owners, but in reality exercises tyrannical control over the building and its occupants. Like the lazarillo that causes the cruel blind man to crash against a wall, Eliseo, indifferent and unaware of his Machiavellian qualities, leads the owners along the path befitting his revenge. From the vantage point of his house, a tiny house on the roof that will end up being the source of all problems and around which almost the entire plot of the first season of the series will revolve, Eliseo controls a vast physical and human landscape. .
By doing small favors for the neighbors, like fixing the dripping faucet or the non-working switch, and even collecting a pension from one of them – Beba, for whom she (in Eliseo’s case) seems to feel all caution is little ) true appreciation― the manager has accumulated a remarkable knowledge of each owner. However, no one in the building suspects that beneath the bouncer’s helpful smile is a strict judge of his behavior; Not exactly exemplary. But we are not dealing with a black comedy with socially critical traits either. Eliseo does not practice class struggle, not even in theory. Although he helps out the homeless and housekeepers, he is a ruthless guy who charges commissions from the workers who come to repair and even makes a profit by renting out the apartment of some absent neighbors for days. His manipulative skills rebel to the fullest when he sees his job in jeopardy because of his only nemesis, the president of the community of owners, the lawyer Matías Zambrano, who wants to relinquish his services. This is where the real battle begins, in which the manager will use every deterrent he can think of – including solving the problems of his own making – to save his job, which is really his life.
Conceived and directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, authors of the films El vecino de al lado or El ciudadano illustre, the series was a huge success in Argentina and Latin America. For this reason, filming for the second season began months ago in the same building (Calle de Arribeños, 1630) in the affluent Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. We’ll see what the renewed fight between Eliseo and Zambrano has in store for us.
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