What about existentialism’s influence on your latest film?
The film could be titled ‘The Passion of Uxbal”. It’s a scrutinizing journey to find light, to explore human beings, to understand human nature in the worst conditions. And that’s what existentialist writers do; they put an ordinary man into extraordinary conditions and observe what happens.

What did you want to show in Uxbal?
Contradiction. The more contradictory and unpredictable character, the more I like it. I don’t like congruent characters. I also like to be incongruent in order to be straight with myself.

Uxbal is also a caretaker, a role typically reserved for women.
Yes, in a way, it’s not in our nature. We really have to work at being caretakers. And Uxbal has to take care of the kids, of the Chinese, of the Africans. Everybody depends on him, but he also depends on everybody. I always thought that he is like a big oak with all these numerous roots that we cannot see, but when it falls down all the roots are exposed. It’s like observing one tree in the woods falling down and the incredible noise it makes, and that’s how complex a single life is.