I just saw this wonderful film and just wanted to make a post about how impressed I was with it. It was my second Saura film (after Blood Wedding, a completely different yet equally intoxicating film) and I am definitely eager to see more of his films.
shareYes. I saw it over 25 years ago, thought it was the most haunting
movie I had ever seen, and still rate it highly.
Great film 9.5/10
MY PERSONAL 100 FILMS-http://www.imdb.com/list/iFa7p7uwsr8/
Great film 9.5/10
MY PERSONAL 100 FILMS-http://www.imdb.com/list/iFa7p7uwsr8/
A quietly brilliant film. Very Bergman-esque and fascinating. One of the BEST movies I've ever seen.
I just saw this 10 minutes ago and was shocked that this film is not more popular. It's one of the best films I've ever seen.
shareNo need to start another thread with this title of yours.
It *is* brilliant. And it is yet another reason for snide questions about the perceived supremacy of hollywoodien filmry. Just look at the number of Oscars (not nominated and not received)!
It is dense in the best sense, has good cinematography, and after all a good dose of Buñuel in the ever changing transitions from reality to imagination and vice versa.
Ana Torrent is totally believable. How they get a child to act so convincingly!?
In the end, the main difference in my humble opinion between Buñuel's style and this one is that towards the end, everything reverts back to reality here, whereas with Buñuel it usually is the opposite.
So I still have been asking myself, which deaths we have actually witnessed and which we imagined. The mother, if the scenes were real, looked pretty much like a victim of poisoning, the way she behaved she might have swallowed some cleaning detergent. [But I won't continue with any spoilers. ]
I couldn't get a good glimpse on the tin containing the white powder. Was it some sodium bicarbonate or so? If it was, this could provide some clues in this direction of thought.
Remarkable as well, how the mother is - against all Hollywood tradition - not a clearcut role neither. She wanted to become a pianist, and yet preferred to avoid the rat race outside the house for a stage career. The father was the usual philanderer, without much taste. Did he actually try to approach Rosa, or is that also imagination? This remains unclear like so many other scenes.
However, the masterly work by Saura is fully achieved by the clarity about what Ana subjectively feels, dreams, remembers.
Surely, it is a political movie in 1976. To me, the story about the finca that they visited and that was told in a flashback to have been sold a few years later is a clear political indication. The old, almost feudal, system would disappear within a few years. And it had in reality within few years after Franco's death.
And I also fell for the music, having carried the record with me for decades until I said 'good-bye' to me beloved record player few years ago.
Aside of scenes of a sad and dreary upbringing, there are hilarious moments, like the girls dancing, using make-up, toupets, and play 'family'.
So sad we don't get this movie offered more frequently!
I agree. This was excellent. I rated it a 9/10.
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