Screened as part of NZIFF 2017

Beatriz at Dinner 2017

Directed by Miguel Arteta World

A holistic health worker (Salma Hayek) goes head to head with the one percent over dinner in this potently loaded dramedy by Miguel Arteta. With John Lithgow, Chloë Sevigny, Jay Duplass, Connie Britton.

USA In English
83 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Director

Producers

Aaron L. Gilbert
,
Pamela Koffler
,
David Hinojosa
,
Christine Vachon

Screenplay

Mike White

Photography

Wyatt Garfield

Editor

Jay Deuby

Production designer

Ashley Fenton

Costume designer

Christina Blackaller

Music

Mark Mothersbaugh

With

Salma Hayek (Beatriz)
,
John Lithgow (Doug Strutt)
,
Connie Britton (Kathy)
,
Jay Duplass (Alex)
,
Amy Landecker (Jeana)
,
Chloë Sevigny (Shannon)
,
David Warshofsky (Grant)
,
John Early (Evan)

Festivals

Sundance 2017

This perfectly honed chamber drama from director Miguel Arteta and writer Mike White begins as a squirmy dinner-party-gone-wrong comedy and expands into something much more soulful and timely.

Salma Hayek plays Beatriz, a Mexican-American holistic healer invited to stay on for dinner by her wealthy client and avowed friend Cathy (Connie Britton). She finds herself breaking bread with Cathy’s husband’s business partners and their wives. The alpha male at the party is billionaire developer Doug Strutt (John Lithgow, playing against the obvious Trump connotations with a chilling assurance). As the cocktails multiply and the one percent rejoice in world domination, the earnest Beatriz enunciates an alternative view.

“Arteta deftly portrays the cocoon of wealth and the shamelessness of those who seek it at all costs: Doug can say whatever he wants, because he’s surrounded by sycophants and others who feed on his money and power. Beatriz, we sense, has been let in on a gathering that people like her are not supposed to see. That’s a pretty simple set-up, but Arteta and screenwriter Mike White find nuance in the conflict...

This might be the best performance Salma Hayek has ever given, her quiet, observant reserve eventually giving way to bewilderment and resolve. And her inner turmoil is a powerfully relevant one: How does a person committed to healing – to being principled, empathetic, and good – handle first contact with the devils who think nothing of destroying our world?”— Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice