La promesa

The amazing Carmen Maura plays a deeply religious maruja who gets fed up with her abusive husband and skips town after witnessing a bizarre random accident. Fate leads her to a small town and a position as a nanny for a dysfunctional couple and their strange little boy. Everything is perfect in her new life until she starts having disagreements with the patriarch and she starts to realize that there is something wrong in the house. Or perhaps she is descending into madness, set off by the clashing of her devout Catholicism and newfound liberation? This film is beautifully photographed and features lovely Spanish Gothic architecture. It never goes into full on horror like it seems to want so badly to do, but it's still a compelling film that is effective on several levels.

"La Promesa" is one of the best Spanish movies of 2004. The story begins with Gregoria (the always fabulous Carmen Maura) as an unhappy housewife in Madrid whose husband is emotionally and, at times, physically abusive. She is devoutly religious, however, and doesn't want to leave him until she realizes that he has broken his promise to love her. She leaves (I won't say how as not to spoil the movie) and goes to Galicia in the north of Spain where she finds a rich family in need of a nanny for their son. She changes her name to Celia (the name she always wanted to be called) and her religious devotion begins to verge on insanity and soon everyone around her becomes a part of the intense psychosis waging war in her mind. The acting is fabulous as Carmen Maura once again delivers a stunning performance and definitely shows why she's the Spanish actress who has won the most awards. The film is entirely believable and leaves you feeling unnerved, but more than a little empowered in a strange, haunting kind of way.

Some of the most intellectually terrifying films, stories that are imbued with religious symbolism, mysticism, and surrealism, are products of Spanish filmmakers and LA PROMESA is no exception. Writer/Director Héctor Carré finds just the right amount of credibility in the prelude to his psychological thriller to make the following strange events teeter on that thin line of delusion and reality.

Gregoria (the redoubtable Carmen Maura) is a fragile woman, married to an abusive, unfaithful husband Roberto (Juan Francisco Margallo) and is confined to her house by order of her husband who taunts her for being barren. She is fanatically religious, obsessive compulsive, and walking closely to the abyss of insanity. Strange visions and incidents happen: in one instance she witness the fall of a house painter who despite a fracture of the skull tells Gregoria of his perfect little hometown in Galicia, a story that opens Gregoria's hopes for a better life. How she manages to depart her miserable life for Galicia involves an incident with her husband that for the sake of the viewers needs to remain occult.

In Galicia she changes her name to Celia, saves a small boy Daniel (Santiago Barón) from an accident, and because of her courageous act observed by the boy's mother Dorita (Ana Fernández) she is invited to the palatial estate where she ultimately gains employment as a maid and nanny - with some reservations from the boy's father Leandro (Evaristo Calvo) who sees Celia's dark side. Celia and Daniel become devoted to each other and Daniel introduces Celia to the strange 'hauntings' of the house and community and reveals the strained relationship of his parents. Also in the mansion Celia meets the cook Felisa (Luisa Merelas) and gardener Senén (Julio Lago) who watch Celia with suspicion.

Daniel leads Celia to a mysterious church where Celia explains the saints, prays, and witnesses bizarre happenings. Always returning to this Gothic church for solace Celia begins observing problems in her new 'home' and gradually her love for Daniel makes her mind bend around ridding the child of his parents, thus making Daniel her own child. Finally her sanity breaks and she is involved in murderous acts that are not what they appear to be. To say more would disrupt the story of how a deranged mind mixes delusions and actions to gain resolution to defaced dreams.

As Gregoria/Celia, Carmen Maura again demonstrates the brilliance of her acting career. She makes us love this deranged, pitiful character while maintaining an atmosphere of madness and threat. The entire cast weaves in and out of this maze of reality/delusion and Director Carré manages to keep us confused about what we are watching in an extraordinary stance of the how the dysfunctional mind works. The settings are lovely, and the old church is terrifyingly beautiful with all lighting coming form tall tapers and votives and otherworldly light as captured by cinematographer Juan Carlos Gómez. The musical score by Suso Rey and Manuel Varela enhances the mood of the piece with compositions that could easily stand alone. This is not an easy film to watch, not because of violence (though there is some), but because Carré never lets us know the exact truth of what we are watching: is this all in Celia's broken mind, is it real, is the story really happening, etc? Highly recommended for lovers of Gothic tales. Grady Harp

The Spanish film La Promesa (2004) was co-written and directed by Héctor Carré. The movie stars the great Spanish actor Carmen Maura as Celia, an abused wife who leaves her home to find a new life. She comes to a small seaside town, where she saves the life of a young boy, Daniel, played by Santiago Barón. The boy's mother, Dorita (the lovely Ana Fernández), hires Celia to be housemaid and nanny. Dorita's handsome husband, Roberto (Juan Margallo) senses that something isn't quite right about Celia, but accepts her as an employee anyway.

From that point things begin to go wrong. We learn that Dorita feels abandoned by Roberto, who ignores her in favor of his law practice. (She is not a showpiece wife, because their elegant house was a gift from her father. Apparently the money comes from Dorita's side of the family. In essence, Roberto is a showpiece husband.)

Daniel loves Celia, but he can be difficult and oppositional. We learn that Celia is fanatically religious, and she is horrified when a crucifix in a church crumbles before her eyes. (The priest tells her it was just worm-eaten wood, but Celia isn't convinced.)

What follows is basically a horror film. However, there are no crazed stalkers or slashers anywhere. There is horror, but it's internal. The atmosphere in the movie is consistently grim and laden with foreboding. You know something bad is going to happen, but you don't know what. You'll have to see the film to know how the movie ends.

Actually, the plot really ends about five minutes before the movie ends. The last five minutes of the film is an upbeat fantasy, probably tacked on to keep the producers happy. Still, the movie is worth seeing if you don't mind depressing films. We saw La Promesa on DVD, and it worked well on the small screen.

Carmen Maura is one of the great actors of our time. Even if this type of movie isn't really your normal fare, I recommend seeing it just to watch a truly gifted professional at work.

After killing her abusive and unfaithful husband, the religious and schizophrenic housewife Gregoria (Carmen Maura) leaves Madrid and travels to Galicia to visit a church where a stranger told her that everyone should go, dead or alive. When Gregoria arrives, she saves the life of the boy Daniel (Santiago Barón) and his mother Dorita (Ana Fernández) in gratitude invites her to have lunch at her house. Gregoria changes her name to Celia and accepts to work as nanny and chambermaid for Dorita and her dysfunctional husband Leandro (Evaristo Calvo). The violent behavior of Leandro triggers an insanity process in the delusional Celia, who is haunted by demons and ghosts while trying to protect Daniel from the evilness of his parents.

"La Promesa" is a dark tale of insanity and religiosity totally supported by the stunning performance of Carmen Maura. This low budget but stylish movie is surrealistic, and uses the religious fanaticism of an ordinary frustrated woman to build a suspenseful and credible story, blurring reality and insanity of the lead character to make the viewer intrigued about what is really happening. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Promessa" ("The Promise")