This is a brave movie: it wants to depict the hypocrisies of the high social class in spanish franco's regime while showing to the viewer the huge social differences between classes. How people are just elements in a wheel that obliges them to be something they aren't in order to protect their statuses. both juan and Maria Jose don't feel they deserve their plays: one thinks about nepotism the other while fighting for her social position is not deeply happy with that.
the movie describes very well their relationship - why they aren't officialy together, why both despise themselves and what they've become: even though one of them is way more consiouscly guilty about it and the other views this as a need. It's like veryone is lying to each other in order to protect their own lives. they feel they are imposters, but they dont want to be discovered as such: until one of them is enlightened and the other don't seem to follow the same path.
the movie also critizices that society and their shalowness, their rituals that have 0 meaning beause half of the country was starving, their plays, their boot licking towards american figures - and when someone kinda threats all of this for his own personal gain people get scared or don't believe. the film is about someone that this unfaithful couple killed but it turns out to be about why this couple isn't officialy together and what they do to protect themselves.
Even though i think the last part of the film is a bit weaker than the rest i can't do anything but admire the fabulous piece of work. the script is very well written almost in an hitchcockian way - just with way more social commentary that doesn't want to be just entertainment per se. it is filmed beautifully with some awesome shots, the montage is also extremely well made, the sound and the cinematography is beautiful. we can feel the suspicious environment the fear of being expose, the anxiety of having their fragile lives put upside down because an incident they created to a "peasant".
it's actually interesting to see recent spanish movies like "contratiempo" being heavily influenced by this. we know this is a film that wants to make history, that wnts to grab country by the balls and questioning it.. i'm sad portugal didn't follow this route but i know how hard it would have been. bardem did a document about his time that prevails in any time: it's just n amazing piece of work that completely stays solid now a days. really loved it. it's not perfect but it's mesmerizing. and makes us wonder if love ever played a part here.
the movie describes very well their relationship - why they aren't officialy together, why both despise themselves and what they've become: even though one of them is way more consiouscly guilty about it and the other views this as a need. It's like veryone is lying to each other in order to protect their own lives. they feel they are imposters, but they dont want to be discovered as such: until one of them is enlightened and the other don't seem to follow the same path.
the movie also critizices that society and their shalowness, their rituals that have 0 meaning beause half of the country was starving, their plays, their boot licking towards american figures - and when someone kinda threats all of this for his own personal gain people get scared or don't believe. the film is about someone that this unfaithful couple killed but it turns out to be about why this couple isn't officialy together and what they do to protect themselves.
Even though i think the last part of the film is a bit weaker than the rest i can't do anything but admire the fabulous piece of work. the script is very well written almost in an hitchcockian way - just with way more social commentary that doesn't want to be just entertainment per se. it is filmed beautifully with some awesome shots, the montage is also extremely well made, the sound and the cinematography is beautiful. we can feel the suspicious environment the fear of being expose, the anxiety of having their fragile lives put upside down because an incident they created to a "peasant".
it's actually interesting to see recent spanish movies like "contratiempo" being heavily influenced by this. we know this is a film that wants to make history, that wnts to grab country by the balls and questioning it.. i'm sad portugal didn't follow this route but i know how hard it would have been. bardem did a document about his time that prevails in any time: it's just n amazing piece of work that completely stays solid now a days. really loved it. it's not perfect but it's mesmerizing. and makes us wonder if love ever played a part here.