The Pearl Button (El botón de nácar) (2015)
89%RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: 11 wins & 12 nominations
Deliberately paced yet hypnotically absorbing, The Pearl Button offers a poetic look at the wonders of the natural world — and humanity’s place among them.
The Pearl Button is like a Malick film on steroids, with stunning visuals and a haunting exploration of Chile’s past. It’s like taking a trip through time and space, with Patricio Guzmán as your guide. But be warned, this documentary is not for the faint of heart – it will leave you feeling unsettled and haunted by the unimaginable horrors of history. So buckle up and prepare for a wild ride through the beauty and darkness of Chilean Patagonia.
Production Company(ies)
AGBO Hotdog Hands Ley Line Entertainment,
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Patagonia, Chile
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2015
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 22m
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Language(s):Spanish
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Country of origin:Chile, France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 23, 2015 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2017
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, Patagonian waterways, genocide, Patricio Guzmán, Renate Sachse, written by Patricio Guzmán, directed by Patricio Guzmán, reviewed by Bilge Ebiri, Nigel Andrews, Kate Taylor, Mark Kermode, Kate Muir, Geoffrey Macnab, Mattie Lucas, Nick Evan-Cook, Matthew Anderson, Max Nelson, Mary Palmer, Ernesto Diezmartinez, starring Patricio Guzmán, Raúl Zurita, produced by Renate Sachse, Kino Lorber, Spanish, 2015, 1h 22m, box office gross $39.6K, audience score 82%, Tomatometer 94%, documentary film, Chilean Patagonia, indigenous people, Pinochet regime, water landscapes, mystical understanding, dark historical stories, poetic, hypnotically absorbing, natural world, humanity’s place among them, geology, anthropology, tribes, tyrants, haunting, visual poetry, Malickian imagery, stunning scenery, distant and recent past, tough, prickly, matter-of-factness
Worldwide gross: $119,753
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $149,484
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,979
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 16,301
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Raúl Zurita – Self
Patricio Guzmán – Director/Writer
Renate Sachse – Producer
Adrien Oumhani – Executive Producer
Director(s)
Patricio Guzmán
Writer(s)
Patricio Guzmán
Producer(s)
Renate Sachse
Film Festivals
Berlin, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
11 wins & 12 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (47) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (3)
This is a rapturous, unsettling movie about beauty, mystery, and unimaginable horror.
March 24, 2020
Bilge Ebiri
Spirituality & Health
TOP CRITIC
This documentary holds every card in the pack, from geology to anthropology to the history of tribes and tyrants, and plays them like a master.
December 28, 2016 | Rating: 5/5
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
This haunting Chilean documentary is more poetry than journalism as filmmaker Patricio Guzman compares the fate of the indigenous people of Patagonia with that of the disappeared of the Pinochet regime.
April 8, 2016 | Rating: 4/4
Kate Taylor
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
As always, Guzmán unearths details that establish resonant connections between diverse worlds (the “pearl button” of the title proves typically allusive) but at a brief 82 minutes this feels like too many streams gathering in one overcrowded pool.
March 20, 2016 | Rating: 3/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
The Pearl Button is a piece of visual poetry that meanders along the waterways, coastline and history of Chile, coming into sharp and horrifying focus on the atrocities of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
March 18, 2016 | Rating: 4/5
Kate Muir
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Patricio Guzmán’s essay-style documentary is a deceptive but very moving affair.
March 18, 2016 | Rating: 4/5
Geoffrey Macnab
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Through Guzmán’s unique lens, the history of the natives becomes a kind of ethereal reflection of the universe, irrevocably changed by colonialism and western invasion.
August 7, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
Far from conventional, this gorgeously soundtracked documentary is a treat for filmgoers willing to be engrossed by Malickian imagery…
May 17, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Nick Evan-Cook
One Room With A View
An astoundingly beautiful visual essay which revels in the stunning scenery of Chilean Patagonia, it morphs into a harrowing depiction of the nation’s distant and recent past.
April 9, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Matthew Anderson
CineVue
Guzmán’s predilection for naïve wide-eyed wonder weighs down his recent films, never eclipses the most striking feature of his work: the way in which dreamy musings and far-fetched speculations coexist with toughness, prickliness, and matter-of-factness
November 14, 2017
Max Nelson
Cinema Scope
A fascinating journey through Chile’s troubled past.
May 10, 2017
Mary Palmer
Daily Record (UK)
The most recent documentary by Patricio Guzmán explores and faces the past and the presen of Chile, looking at the heavens and turning down, towards the earth. Or, in this case, to the sea. [Full review in Spanish]
March 8, 2017
Ernesto Diezmartinez
Cine Vértigo…
Plot
Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán explores the connection between Patagonian waterways and genocide in the haunting and poetic documentary, The Pearl Button.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The critic reviews for The Pearl Button describe it as “rapturous,” “haunting,” and “visual poetry.”
Patricio-Guzmán.jpg
