El sol del membrillo

The Spanish Realist painter of still lifes and landscapes Antonio López adopts a very precise approach to portraying reality on his canvases. In El sol del membrillo, Erice pursues this creative process equally meticulously. The result is a subtle and exciting journey in which painter and filmmaker together, and actually competing with each other, tackle the object to be painted, namely a small quince tree in the painter’s garden (the membrillo from the title).

The subject appears insignificant, but the path leading to it is a heroic fight which demands the utmost of the craftsmanship of both filmmaker and painter. The aim of the painter is to ‘capture’ the autumn light, and in doing so he enters a contest with time. That same battle against the passing of time and approaching death is also the subject of the film.