Fausto 5.0 is the last part of a trilogy dedicated to the figure of Faust. The first two installments, F@ust 3.0 and The Damnation of Faust took their starting points from pre-existing works, Goethe’s Faust and Hector Berlioz’s opera with libretto by Almire Gandonnière and Gérard de Nerval respectively. In this case the starting point is an original plot although it refers (inevitably) to Faust’s mythic journey.

This is a Faust whose life is crumbling down around him, a doctor specialising in terminal medicine who has buried himself in a soulless and routine job. Fausto is a man without dreams, closer to death than to life. The only contact that the doctor has with reality is his assistant, Julia. It is she who will notice the changes that the doctor is experiencing which eventually consume him, without his knowledge, in the game of his desires.

In a sick city that is a mix of cultures and temporal references, a medical conference is held which Fausto will attend. There, upon arriving at the station, he will run into Santos Vella, a man who admits to having been one of his patients. Then a furiously-paced journey through a tunnel begins, from which Fausto will emerge completely changed. Santos will be, at first, an annoying shadow, someone who rudely interferes in the doctor’s life. He later becomes a guide with almost magical qualities, determined to confront Fausto with the darkest aspects of his personality.

Santos offers to convert Fausto’s desires into reality. In fact, before the doctor is even able to decide, Santos has already gotten ahead of himself and converted his desires into cravings he is anxious to satisfy. And a dream that seems to be a gift becomes his worst nightmare. Are all our desires good? Fausto almost thinks so; Santos opens his eyes to the truth: there are desires that lead straight to hell.

Dirección
Isidro Ortiz, La Fura dels Baus (Àlex Ollé, Carlos Padrissa).

Producción
Eduardo Campoy, Alicia Gallardo, Ramón Vidal.

Productores asociados
Fernando Martín, Thomas Spieker.

Guión
Fernando León de Aranoa

Actores
Fausto: Miguel Ángel Solá.
Santos: Eduard Fernández.
Julia: Nawja Nimri.
Quiroga: Juan Fernández.
Margarita: Raquel González.
Marta: Irene Montalà.
Bielsa: Pep Molina.

Música
Josep Mª Sanou, Toni M. Mir.

Director de fotografía
Pedro del Rey

Diseño corporativo e imagen
Chu Uroz

Dirección artística
Leo Casamitjana

Director de producción
Aintza Serra

Casting
Sara Bilbatua

Ayudante de dirección
Guillermo Escribano

Jefe de producción
Ander Sistiaga

Montaje
Manel J. Frasquiel

Director de posproducción
Esteve Tort

Efectos digitales: Alfonso Nieto.

Efectos Especiales: DDT.

Vestuario: Antonia Marqués.

Sonido: Ferran Mengod.

Estreno
30/8/01, 58 Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografico Biennale di Venezia.

Producida por Fausto Producciones y Cartel,
en asociación con 42nd St. Produccions.

Distribuida por Lauren Films.

La Fura’s third take on the myth of Faust employed cinematic language. The film, co-directed by La Fura dels Baus and Isidro Ortiz with a script by Fernando León de Aranoa, no longer opposes the concepts of good and evil, now it is reason and instinct that go head to head.