An inquisitive, cherubic girl named Ana (Ana Torrent) overhears a tender exchange between her father, a military officer named Anselmo (Héctor Alterio) and his mistress, Amelia (Mirta Miller), before the intimate moment gives way to tragedy and confusion, as Anselmo suffers a fatal heart attack. Amelia hurriedly dresses, leaving Anselmo’s body alone in the bedroom […]
In The Garden of Delights, Carlos Saura infuses his now familiar, archetypal elements of financial crisis, physical disability, infirmity, and game hunting that were introduced in his seminal film, The Hunt as subversive, iconic symbols for the rigidity of Francoist corrupted ideology, with a healthy dose of blunt, tongue in cheek – and pointedly allegorical […]
Peppermint Frappé opens to the image of a pair of hands meticulously cropping images from a fashion magazine for a personal scrapbook. The hands belong to an unassuming and conservative physician named Julian (José Luis López Vázquez) who runs a radiology clinic from his personal residence, assisted by a shy, mild mannered nurse named Ana […]
Anticipating Theo Angelopoulos’ The Hunters in its allegorical dissection of a dysfunctional, polarized, contemporary society engendered by the incestuous and repressive, right-wing regime, Carlos Saura’s taut and subversive magnum opus, The Hunt is a harrowing and potent exposition into the pervasive moral corruption that has surfaced under a corrosive combination of Franco-era class entrenchment and […]
Un Cœur en hiver is a sublimely sensual and sophisticated love story. Camille, a concert violinist (Emmanuelle Beart) is intrigued by her lover Maxim’s (Andre Dussollier) business partner, Stephane (Daniel Auteuil). Stephane is a methodical repairer of fine musical instruments. He is precise in his craft, silent, and enigmatic. Noticing a string buzz on her […]
Somewhere between the idealism of youth and the nostalgia of old age lies regret, and it is at this life’s juncture that we find three lifelong friends in Claude Sautet’s poignant film, Vincent, François, Paul and the Others. Every Sunday, friends and family congregate at Paul (Serge Reggiani) and Julia’s (Antonella Lualdi) house in the […]