Stress-es tres-tres

Solid film dealing with jealousy , passions , allegedly treason , sexual intrigues and an extraordinary acting by the main cast . A businessman called Fernando (Fernando Cebrian) drives to the Almeria coast with his inconstant wife Teresa (Geraldine Chaplin , by that time married to Carlos Saura) and best friend Antonio (Juan Luis Galiardo) who wants to be in love with her . Paranoid Fernando then thinks is being deceived and both of whom are beginning a love affair . As the two flirt , and Fernando remains fixated on jealously and becomes increasingly paranoiac . Will he end his agony by killing the would-be lover/friend , the spouse or commit suicide himself ?

Intense and heart-rending drama about jealousy , suspects and loving betrayal . Decent but downbeat drama by Carlos Saura mostly filmed in Madrid , surroundings , and Almeria . It is a special story of love , lies and jealousy with an intrigue behind . This interesting as well as intimate story is a passionate retelling and a touching drama , including a monotonous intrigue . Carlos Saura also writes the intelligent script along with Angelino Fons based on his own story and being filmed in his usual formal and stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the interesting issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . This agreeable flick spells through intricate patterns of frames , sets , sound and photography . The main problem has to face ¨Stress-es Tres-Tres¨ (1968) , beyond not being able to avoid falling into a claustrophobic drama is precisely derived from the coldness of its staging , which eventually become tiring and heart-breaking over 90 minutes and some of footage . His style is pretty much sour , dry and realistic as well in the atmosphere as in the fresh dialog . This movie is fundamental in his filmography where shows the miseries of some amoral characters and shot at the height of his creativity , in a period cultural difficult , where the enormous censorship of the political regime exacerbated the ingenuity and imagination of the scriptwriters . Very good acting by trio protagonist , these actors were very intelligent chosen such as Fernando Cebrian , an industrialist now broke and ill turned into a green-eyed monster , Geraldine Chaplin as the lovely wife Teresa , she overcomes the affair with sentimentality and Juan Luis Galiardo as suspicious friend Antonio . The secondary cast gives nice , but brief , interpretation as Charo Soriano and Fernando Sánchez Polack . Spotless pictorial cinematography in black and white by Luis Cuadrado , he carries out a photography in juicy atmosphere , being filmed in Madrid and Almeria , showing brilliantly the stark outdoors where were shot a lot of Spaghetti/Paella Westerns in the sixties . Early deceased Luis Cuadrado is deemed to be one of the best Spanish cameramen with a long and prestigious artistic career and Saura's ordinary cameraman , he has photographed successes such as ¨Furtivos¨ , ¨The spirit of the beehive¨ , ¨La Regenta¨ , ¨Mi Querida Señorita¨ and ¨B Must Die¨ . Furthermore , a willingness almost perfect of the elements of each shot , every sequence , every space .

The motion picture was compellingly produced by the great producer Elias Querejeta ; being professionally directed in his particular style by veteran filmmaker Carlos Saura . He directed a series of award-winning movies firmly establishing him as one of the best Spanish filmmakers , dealing with political as well as social themes and performed by famous players . Carlos usually shot with is own wife , Geraldine Chaplin , until their separation . Saura is an expert on literary adaptations and shooting several intelligent and thoughtful films . Carlos began working in cinema in 1959 when he filmed ¨Los Golfos ¨(1962), one of Saura's undisputed masterpieces , dealing with juvenile delinquency from a sociological point of view . He subsequently made ¨LLanto Por Un Bandido¨ (1964) starred by an all-European-star-cast . Saura is a well recognized filmmaker both nationally and internationally , and in proof of it he won many prizes among which there are the following ones : Silver Bear in Festival of Berlin for ¨Peppermint Frappé¨ (1967) and the successful ¨La Caza¨ (1966) , considered to be his undisputed masterpiece , that also won numerous prizes in International Festivals and in which four characters facing each other and terminating into a jarring burst of violence . These films along with others as ¨Cria Cuervos¨ , ¨Ana Y Los Lobos¨ , ¨Stress-es tres-tres¨ were notorious in the years of the Franco's downfall dictatorship including brooding and polemic issues and played by known and prestigious actors as Geraldine Chaplin , Fernando Rey , Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez , Monica Randall and Hector Alterio . Saura achieved Special Jury Awards in Cannes for ¨La Prima Angélica¨ (1974), in 1973, and for ¨Cría Cuervos¨ (1976), in 1975. Also, the film ¨Mamá Cumple Cien Años¨ (1979) got an Oscar nomination in 1979 as the best foreign film, and it also won the Special Jury Award at the San Sebastian Festival. He subsequently made ¨Deprisa , Deprisa¨ based on facts about juvenile delinquency in Spain since the 80s , as he tried to take a position in favour of outcast people and he got to make a both lyric and documentary-style cinema . In 1990, he won two Goya , The Spanish Oscar , as best adapted screenplay writer and best director . Saura became an expert on Iberian musical adaptations as ¨Carmen¨ , ¨Amor Brujo¨ , ¨Bodas De Sangre¨ , ¨Sevillanas¨ , ¨Iberia¨ , ¨Salome¨ , ¨Fado¨, ¨Flamenco¨ and even recently Opera as ¨Io , Don Giovanni

Industrialist Fernando Cebrián goes on a vacation with his wife, Geraldine Chaplin, and his best friend, Juan Luis Galiardo. Cebrián thinks the two of them are having an affair.

There's macho posturing and fantasizing aplenty in this early movie by Carlos Saura. Given that he and Miss Chaplin were starting their own longterm affair, it's an interesting question how much of this is based on his own issues about the relationship, but that makes little difference to the casual or even dedicated movie watcher. The scenes in the desert and later by the seaside are strikingly shot by DP Luis Cuadrado, and the relationships are interestingly realized..... assuming they're realized within the movie or present only as the fantasies of the characters.

As its title suggests, this is a deeply weird Pinter-esque emotional triangle - involving an insanely jealous husband, his gorgeous young wife and his carefree business partner. They spend much of the film in a car, driving through the arid Spanish landscape on their way to a deserted beach. Loyalties shift, identities blur... By the end, it is frankly impossible to say who has (or has not) done what to whom.

To make it doubly strange, Carlos Saura has shot this film in the most starkly realistic of styles. Its Spartan visuals, minimal music and sober black-and-white camerawork make us feel we are watching a documentary. This makes the ambiguity of the action even more bizarre and disturbing. When the husband sees (or imagines he sees) his partner making love to his wife, we are not watching a standard movie 'dream sequence.' We are witnessing madness itself. True madness, convinced that what it sees is reality!

Pushing this film still further into realms of delirium, Saura's subtle but chilling use of homoerotic, even sadomasochistic, imagery makes you wonder just WHO the husband is most possessive of. His wife or the other man? A langorous scene where he watches the younger man swimming. A fetishistic interlude with black leather and a motorbike. (Has Saura seen Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising?) Recurring visions of Saint Sebastian - the classic homoerotic saint, naked and pierced full of arrows. Strong stuff indeed for Spanish cinema under Franco.

It all adds up to one of Saura's most oblique and tantalising works... And Geraldine Chaplin looks particularly exquisite in her blonde wig!