In Memoriam Biel

An acclaimed actor, Pere Arquillué, has to train a rookie in reading Gabriel Ferrater’s poems and memoirs. While doing so, we discover the surprising story of this poet, from the time he was born in a provincial town to the moment he was forced to flee into exile with his family. Ferrater was a poet, linguist, translator, editor, mathematician… and yet he did not go to school. He grew up in a bourgeois family and was raised at home, with his parents, but above all, devouring books in libraries. Thus, he forged a free spirit, reluctant to authority, which the Spanish Civil War would consolidate. Despite this, the war also inflicted deep wounds: like other boys and girls, the young Gabriel witnessed revenge, betrayal, assassinations and bombings. While passing through Barcelona, on his escape to France, Ferrater reflects on the generalized moral collapse that has ravaged his country since long before the war broke out. This collapse will affect his personality as well as all his future works.