El cielo abierto

A psychiatrist abandoned by his wife is left to look after his mother-in-law who is undergoing an operation; in the meantime one of his patients' sister pays him back the money her drug-addict brother stole from him. This is a comedy full of tenderness, with a witty, kind of surrealistic humour, and with a brilliant interpretation of all actors. The gallery of all insane or mentally disturbed characters adds more spice to the film, making the psychiatrist wonder if at the end he's not becoming like them.

This is a plain and simple comedy with some diverting moments and other briefly dramatic ones . It takes place in Madrid , there lives Miguel (Sergi Mateu) , a young psychiatrist working at a Public Hospital , to be aware his spouse has just abandoned for no one else than his own friend . In the meantime , he's expecting his mother-in-law's (Maria Jose Alfonso) visit , who's come to the capital on a medical revision by an expert doctor (Emilio Gutierrez Caba) , and doesn't know anything about her daughter's affair . To make things worse at hospital , Miguel deals with a gallery of all nutty or mentally upsetting patients . When one of Miguel's deranged characters has just taken his wallet , then Miguel going to his patient's house to retrieve his wallet , there he'll meet instead his sister Jasmina (Mariola Fuentes) , a worker woman who cares his four brothers and grandparents (Victor Israel , Silvia Casanova) . As Jasmina helping Miguel to forget his recent loving failure . Both of whom fall in love because they have similar troubles . At the end Miguel has to choose between his old love , his wife Sara (Marcela Walerstein) and this lovely and good person , Jasmina.

This is a passable dramedy : a bit of drama plus witty comedy , in which is developed a yearn about a newly separated psychiatrist has just dumped by his wife and who becomes involved a love story with a good woman while his mother-in-love is suffering by cancer illness . The film is full of nice moments , tenderness , with an attractive relation between a upper-middle-class doctor and a lower-class hair-dresser . As being well developed an enjoyable relationship between a deranged doctor , unsettling for his separation , and a spontaneous and outspoken hairdresser of lower-class while falling in love with him too . Entertaining as well as tender screenplay by the same director and Elvira Lindo , the latter is a notorious Spanish writer and journalist , creator of the Spanish famous literature character Manolito Gafotas and she performed Manolito in a radio program for several years . Supporting cast is frankly nice such as Maria Jose Alfonso , Victor Israel , Geli Albadalejo , Marcela Walerstein , Silvia Casanova and brief appearance by writers as Elvira Lindo and Antonio Muñoz Molina . In addition , special mention to veteran Emilio Gutierrez Caba .

There stands out the colorful and atmospheric cinematography by Alfonso Sanz , a good cameraman who has photographed most films directed by Albadalejo , being and filmed in Madrid . Lively as well as adequate musical score by Lucio Godoy , a good professional who has composed soundtracks in a lot of successful movies such as ¨All about my mother¨, ¨Blackthorn¨, ¨Fin¨, ¨Amador¨. ¨Cuento Chino¨, ¨Mataharis¨ , ¨Melissa P¨ , among others . Besides , catching songs at the beginning and the end . The motion picture was professionally directed by Miguel Albadalejo , a fine craftsman expert on comedy and drama as proved in ¨Bear Club¨, ¨Volando Voy¨, ¨Rencor¨, ¨Ataque Verbal¨ , ¨The first life of my life¨, and this ¨Cielo Abierto¨, among others . Rating : 6 . Acceptable as well as agreeable comedy/drama . This a good-feeling movie filled with love , serenity , humor elements , drama and amusement . The flick will appeal to Spanish cinema buffs . Worthwhile seeing .

Sergi Lopez portrays a psychologist (Miguel) who was recently abandoned by her wife Sara. What is even worse, his wife left him with her mother in-law (Elvira). With the help of his friend David (Emilio G. Caba), he will try to do the best. Elvira turns sick. She's sent to and hospital. And... finally he mets (you decide if it is by chance) Jasmina (played by Mariola Fuentes)and both fall in love because the have similar stories.

I'll say something: Sergi Lopez, born in Barcelona, with experience in French movies and Spanish movies, is the best actor of Spain. He is very well escorted by Caba (another very good actor) and Mariola Fuentes did a very good job in constructing her character. Alfonso (the mother in-law) is impressive too. What is even better, the music and all the technical part of the picture. I saw this movie three times and I am still convinced that this romantic movie is one of the best shown in Argentina over the past few years. I'll give it a 9 out of 10. Andres.

One of the best romantic comedies over the past few years. The performances of the whole crew are great, but Sergi Lopez and Mariola Fuentes are two emerging superstars.

What a great great movie!

The story-line could have been rather more successful if it were not for the fact that not only the director was bent on getting it all in with just 100-odd minutes, but also the actors seemed to gang up with him to rattle off their say in the matter at a dizzy speed, such that the spectator is left rather breathless. If the film had been carried out at a speed rather a long way below that of light, we might well have been able to savour some scenes which would undoubtedly have improved by being blessedly more reposed in their enacting.

The fact that Sergi López could never impress me, let alone convince me, whether he were a barman, lion-tamer, monk, or anything else, but as a doctor psychiatrist not at all, is quite beside the point. The question is that the speed with which his character, and the others in this film, rattle off their dialogues, only left me saying to myself: but people do not talk like that. There was no natural intonation; the dialogues were spat out so precipitatedly that there was no way in which any kind of feeling for what was being said could be transposed onto the screen; thus there were no visual possibilities of deducing any kind of interpretation of real people who tend to say things very much in a different way. However, more misfortunate than anything else, it is precisely among some of Dr. Miguel's patients that I found some of the more interesting characterization in this film.

In the end, things were just too tiresome to take in; one could not give a damn as to what happened to Miguel or anybody else. Someone should make this film again, with better actors, a different director, and far more slowly. Then everything would make more sense. But as it is, this film left me neither entertained, nor pleased, nor worried, and I could not care less.

The only good point, I suppose, was that Lucio Godoy produced some interesting pieces in the music. But as for the rest, I interject that I want to see real people playing out their parts - not machine-gunfire deliveries at point-blank range which did absolutely nothing to enhance either the comedy category or the romance genre into which supposedly this film is classified.