Maribel Verdú in Lovers: A True Story (1992)

Pics

Review

It is the mid-50s, during the repressive Franco era in Spain. Paco, a naive young man from the provinces, finishes up his military service and becomes engaged to his commandant's virginal maid, Trini. Needless to say, the industrious and chaste Trini has no intention of getting involved in any carnality before marriage, so their two year engagement has become frustrating for Paco. In the process of re-entering civilian life, he is seduced by his landlady, the classic sophisticated older woman, a glamorous widow with a substantial libido and underworld connections. The landlady supplies more than just hot-blooded passion, however. She soon involves Paco in her cons. He is initially reluctant to get involved with her, given her illegal profession and her jealous tantrums, but he is eventually seduced into her life as well as her bed.

The idealistic younger woman tries to win Paco back with her own feminine wiles, but she is unequipped to compete in this hard and sleazy world. Paco finds himself torn between Trini's pure love and his passion for the landlady. The solution to the love triangle provokes a shocking and depressing ending.

I liked some elements of this film very much:

• The locations are impressive.
• The film conveys a distinct feel of Spain in the mid 1950's. I can't tell you whether that is authentic, but it is consistent, and credible, and established the mood beautifully.
• A foul and tragic deed occurs in front of a church in a snowstorm, provoking some of the most memorable imagery I have seen on screen.
• Victoria Abril and Jorge Sanz have a memorable, ultra-romantic reunion in a train station.
• Gypsy music plays when Abril and Sanz make love, providing the perfect mood for the sensuous scenes.
• The photographic images are artistic and consistent, swathing the movie in distinctive browns, earthy dark greens, and golds.
• The three principal actors seem to disappear into the characters.

On the other hand:

• The camera work is quite primitive. Almost every conversation is filmed over one character's shoulder into another character's face. The camera doesn't move around much, leaving some scenes with kind of a static, old-fashioned feel to them. If you didn't know what year this movie was made, you might guess twenty or thirty years earlier than the correct date, 1991.
• Some of the music in the non-sex scenes seemed kind of unduly syrupy to me.
• The project comes off overall as kind of an extra-steamy soap opera, spiced with a bit of criminal intrigue, kind of an Iberian "The Postman Always Rings Dos Veces".

Nudity Report: Abril shows her buns, and one fleeting nipple, in two different sex scenes. Maribel Verdú shows her pubic area in a very clear and beautiful shot, as she reclines on a bed in daylight.

Critics Vote: The film was nominated for seven Goyas. It won only two, but they were the important ones (Best Picture, Best Director). Victoria Abril won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for her performance.

IMDb Summary: IMDb voters score it 7.0/10.

Box Office: Not a major international hit ($1.4 million in the USA), but a domestic success, Lovers: A True Story , a.k.a. Amantes was Spain's highest-grossing film in 1991.


Written by: Scoopy …courtesy of Scoopy.net