Official Competition
When a billionaire entrepreneur impulsively decides to create an iconic movie, he demands the best. Renowned filmmaker Lola Cuevas is recruited to mastermind this ambitious endeavour. Completing the all-star team are two actors with massive talent but even bigger egos: Hollywood heartthrob Félix Rivero and radical theatre actor Iván Torres. Both are legends, but not exactly best friends. Through a series of increasingly eccentric trials set by Lola, Félix and Iván must confront not only each other but also their own legacies. Who will be left when the cameras finally start rolling?
Working with a tight budget of $4.1M, the film achieved a modest success with $4.7M in global revenue (+15% profit margin).
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Official Competition (2021) showcases precise plot construction, characteristic of Gastón Duprat's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 54 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 6.9, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Wealthy businessman Humberto Suárez celebrates his 80th birthday at a lavish party, surrounded by luxury and sycophants. He realizes he wants to leave a legacy beyond money.. The analysis reveals that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 13 minutes when Lola announces she has cast two radically different actors: method actor Iván Torres (Martínez) and Hollywood star Félix Rivero (Banderas), creating immediate tension about their incompatibility.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 29 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This indicates the protagonist's commitment to Lola commits to an unconventional, psychologically manipulative rehearsal process. The actors agree to submit to her experimental methods, entering a new world of artistic deconstruction., moving from reaction to action.
At 57 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Significantly, this crucial beat During a brutal exercise where they must insult each other, the conflict between Iván and Félix erupts into genuine hostility. What seemed like artistic exploration becomes real psychological warfare. The stakes shift from making a film to proving artistic superiority., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 84 minutes (74% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, In the most devastating exercise, Lola forces them to rehearse in a dilapidated building scheduled for demolition while workers destroy it around them. The metaphorical death of their egos and the entire artistic project becomes literal as the building crumbles., illustrates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 90 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 79% of the runtime. Lola calls them for one final meeting. Having stripped away their pretensions through her process, she reveals her ultimate artistic decision about the film., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Official Competition's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs proven narrative structure principles that track dramatic progression. By mapping Official Competition against these established plot points, we can identify how Gastón Duprat utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Official Competition within the comedy genre.
Comparative Analysis
Additional comedy films include The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Bad Guys and Lake Placid.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Wealthy businessman Humberto Suárez celebrates his 80th birthday at a lavish party, surrounded by luxury and sycophants. He realizes he wants to leave a legacy beyond money.
Theme
Humberto's assistant discusses what makes art valuable and lasting. "Culture is what endures" - establishing the film's exploration of artistic authenticity versus manufactured prestige.
Worldbuilding
Humberto decides to finance a prestigious film adaptation of a Nobel Prize-winning novel. We meet renowned director Lola Cuevas (Cruz), who is hired for her artistic credibility.
Disruption
Lola announces she has cast two radically different actors: method actor Iván Torres (Martínez) and Hollywood star Félix Rivero (Banderas), creating immediate tension about their incompatibility.
Resistance
The three artists meet for initial rehearsals. Lola begins psychological exercises to prepare the actors. The clash between Iván's theatrical seriousness and Félix's commercial ego becomes apparent.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Lola commits to an unconventional, psychologically manipulative rehearsal process. The actors agree to submit to her experimental methods, entering a new world of artistic deconstruction.
Mirror World
The relationship between Iván and Félix becomes the central dynamic - they represent opposing philosophies of art (purity vs. commerce, ego vs. craft) that mirror the film's thematic question.
Premise
Lola puts the actors through increasingly bizarre and humiliating exercises: being crushed by a giant rock, endless repetitions, competing for her approval, psychological mind games exploring their insecurities and egos.
Midpoint
During a brutal exercise where they must insult each other, the conflict between Iván and Félix erupts into genuine hostility. What seemed like artistic exploration becomes real psychological warfare. The stakes shift from making a film to proving artistic superiority.
Opposition
Lola intensifies her manipulations, playing the actors against each other. Félix tries to undermine Iván by researching his past and fabricating a family connection. Iván retreats into his method. Both men become consumed by competition rather than art.
Collapse
In the most devastating exercise, Lola forces them to rehearse in a dilapidated building scheduled for demolition while workers destroy it around them. The metaphorical death of their egos and the entire artistic project becomes literal as the building crumbles.
Crisis
Both actors question everything - the process, their talent, their careers, the meaning of art itself. They sit in the darkness contemplating whether this project has any value or if they've been broken down for nothing.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Lola calls them for one final meeting. Having stripped away their pretensions through her process, she reveals her ultimate artistic decision about the film.
Synthesis
In a shocking twist, Lola announces she is canceling the entire production. The rehearsal process WAS the art - exposing the absurdity, ego, and artifice of prestige filmmaking. Humberto must accept his legacy project is abandoned.
Transformation
Final images mirror the opening: Humberto wanted cultural legacy but got nothing. Lola walks away having created conceptual art from destruction. The actors return to their separate worlds, transformed but with no film to show for it. Art's value remains beautifully, frustratingly ambiguous.