The plot revolves around an epileptic taxidermist who often fantasizes about committing the perfect heist, and who suddenly has the chance of making one happen after he accidentally kills a man who was in fact a career criminal.

[6] After his wife leaves him, taxidermist Esteban Espinosa accepts an invitation to go hunting with his friend Sontag in a remote Patagonian forest.

They stay at a cabin owned by Dietrich and run by his much younger wife Diana and her brother Julio.

Espinosa opens Dietrich's hideout in the woods, where he finds plans of a heist that consists of stealing an armoured truck carrying the earnings of a nearby casino.

At Dietrich's hideout, Espinosa finds documents that detail the truck's route and the larger sum of money that it will carry after a long weekend.

One of the thugs suspects Espinosa and watns to kill him but is persuaded let things unfold ("sort it out" is the translation frequently used).

At one point, when Espinosa's fake tale (Dietrich entrusted him with everything) is about to be exposed, Julio makes a statement that supports his febrication.

Espinosa and the criminals drive (three vehicles total) into the woods to Dietrich's hideout to get tools to open the truck.

[15] Bielinsky then took his original idea of "a guy wearing someone else's skin to satisfy his own desires" and took it in a different direction.

[15] During the writing process, Bielinsky offered Darín to take care of the character while he developed the story.

While Bielinsky shot Nine Queens in a way he would "disappear as director" and the writing would stand out, for The Aura he focused on other aspects of filmmaking such as "mood, lightning, or atmosphere".

[15] Bielinsky had planned The Aura as part of a "conceptual trilogy", with each film focused on a different aspect of filmmaking.

[19] The Aura began filming in mid-October 2004, taking place primarily in Bariloche and Buenos Aires City.

[24] The scenes where the protagonist experiences the aura consisted of alternating shots with symmetric and asymmetric framing in order to evoke a sense of unbalance and a "loss of volition".

[39] In its opening weekend in Argentina, the film debuted at number one at the box office, with 123,137 spectators and grossing four times that of Blessed by Fire in second place.

The website's consensus reads: "The Aura is a highly original and cerebral thriller that maintains its suspense from start to finish.

"[44] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

He said, "For his part, Mr. Bielinsky, in what would sadly be his last film, demonstrates a mastery of the form that is downright scary.

"[46] Film critic Jonathan Holland, film critic for Variety magazine, liked the film and wrote, "An engrossing existential thriller from Fabien Bielinsky...Leisurely paced, studied, reticent and rural, The Aura is a quieter, richer and better-looking piece that handles its multiple manipulations with the maturity the earlier pic sometimes lacked...Featuring a career-best perf from Ricardo Darin, pic is a must-see in territories that warmed to Queens, while its superior production values could generate even bigger returns from international arthouse auds who enjoy their thrillers with a touch of distinction.