Five Comedies

Contemporary Spanish film is usually characterized by powerful passion, eroticism, dramatic tension, and shift from reality accompanied by vast inventiveness and highly develop storyline as well as exquisite visual attractiveness. This selection of films from the last fifteen years is especially interesting as it presents comedies, a genre that we are least used to watching when it comes to Spanish cinema. Even though the aforementioned characteristics of film procedure are not dominant in these, they are nevertheless at least partly present and that makes them quite different from comedies from some other countries. Film comedy often rests on the peculiarities of the mentality of the environment in which it is made. Therefore, these selected Spanish authors effectively portray the specifics of their countrymen’s behavior, by taking some almost normal situation, often connected to social or financial problems that gradually develop in one of the possible directions, and turning it to an extreme, absurd and surreal event that causes an usual and utterly original kind of humor.

Even the highly productive and popular author of comedies Álvaro Fernández Armero, in his film, which most resembles the standard product of this genre Sidetracked (Las ovejas no pierden el tren, 2015), introduces some unexpected elements in the otherwise precisely socially determined issues that make up the tangled love stories of members of the same family. Financially most stable is the emotionally most unstable oldest brother, who recently got a divorce and has a much younger mistress, the sister’s obsession with marriage goes beyond absurdity and the most immature younger brother (even though he is married and a father of a school kid) is infatuated with sex and porn, and does not manage to get ahead in his career as a journalist and writer. However, in an unusual manner, life in the country and working in the field reveal to him the sense behind returning to nature. The whole family is most worried about their mother who has left their father and rented an apartment even though she has never worked and never had any income of her own. They are afraid that she has become a prostitute because she suddenly has money and, even though she is in her sixties, is still quite attractive. Nevertheless, the truth is completely unexpected.

The most well-known among the directors in this program is the highly appreciated and internationally famous Alex de la Iglesia (1965). His film The Perfect Crime (Crimen ferpecto, 2004) was nominated for the European award for best director and rightly so because each shot of this film is visually polished to its perfection. The protagonist Rafael is an irresistible lover who is equally interested in having love affairs with as many women as he can, mostly those who work at the department for women in a big department store that he manages, as well as in advancing in his career. His main opponent is the manager of another department in the same store and the two of them constantly fight. One of such fight develops into a physical conflict, which, thanks to a series of unfortunate circumstances, ends in his opponent’s death. The film that begins in the style reminiscent of former intellectualized and somewhat stylized comedies of the French New Wave (such as Truffaut’s The Man Who Loved Women from 1977) continues as a full-blooded Spanish dark comedy of absurdity featuring elements of surrealism. The film is dominated by the stunning Mónica Cervera as Lourdes, the only ugly employee of the department store who has witnessed the unintended murder and Rafael’s attempt to get rid of the body. She uses that fact to blackmail Rafel to grant all of her (even love) wishes. On the other hand Rafael is aided by the ghost of the deceased in his plans for redemption.

The other two directors presented in this program also find their inspiration in a specific manner in films. Pablo Berger (1963), well-known professor of film arts who had spent years teaching at most prestigious American film schools, directed until now only two feature films. Both were well received. Some of our viewers will remember the sensation in our film theatres that was the original mostly black and white version of Snow White (Blancanieves, 2012) intended for grownups. Besides winning thirteen Goya awards, it received many international film awards and the nomination for the European award for best film and director. Somewhat less successful was his debut Torremolinos 73, which we are showing in this program. The story takes place in early 1970’s at the end of the fascist dictator Franco’s rule and life, and the protagonists are a married couple who is so broke that they cannot afford anything. Therefore they accept to appear in porn films together. Alfredo is fascinated with film technique and the possibilities of its artistic use, and is trying to make his own film inspired by Bergman, while his shy wife (who is only showing her attributes out of need) is becoming more and more obsessed with wanting a child. Within the obscure world of porn-making and porn film sponsors, Berger imaginatively manages to create a nuanced portrayal of film business by taking the dramatic scenes to their absurdity and very specific humor.

The most experienced among all the directors in this program is Joaquín Oristrell, who started to write screenplays in the 1980’s. In the next decade he won many awards and he soon began to direct as well. No Shame (Sin vergüenza, 2001) is his second film (he was both the director and screenwriter) in which the hero is a famous director who is choosing actors for his new film at a film school. This film has a structure reminiscent of Altman’s films as t has a very big number of protagonists. It is visually attractive and constantly on the edge between a drama, burlesque and comedy of absurdity, as it entangles the young actors’ interconnection and cruel rivalry in getting the desired roles. In addition, there is comedy with elements of drama, turning to grotesque and a lot of dark humor, which stems from occasional interconnectedness of their personal destiny and different forms of love with the scenes from plays that they are acting in. Thus this peculiar comedy becomes a complex piece with many layers of meaning about the performing arts and reality.

Ángel de la Cruz (1963) manages to create an interesting comedy out of the differences between two completely different worlds in his film Lost in Galicia (Los muertos se van de prisa, or Burying the dead, 2009). His protagonist is a modern entrepreneurial woman who buys Spanish sea delicacies and transports them to Germany in her truck where she resells them. After a series of unfortunate circumstances, she gets stuck with her truck in a small provincial town in Spanish Galicia. The town has not changed in decades, all the people live according to the old tradition and they cannot understand such a modern woman. Thus they are intrigued by her.

Besides some similarities that connect most Spanish comedies, this selection is interested because of its enviable reach and even more because of the wide thematic as well as stylistic diversity of these five films. It is interesting that even though all the directors are men, all films are dominated by women, which resulted in some stunning female roles (although men are their equally great partners). This shows that besides the most famous Spanish actors who are known across the world, there are many more excellent actors. One of the best is Candela Peña, who showed her talent in Almodovar’s All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre, 1999), and who appears in this program as the wife and unwilling porn actress in Torremolinos 73, as the sister obsessed with marriage in Sidetracked, and as Cecilia in No Shame. In all three comedies she proved herself an exquisite comedian who can always thrill the viewers with her interpretations. (Tomislav Kurelec)