El amor brujo

Formalismo is an integral part of both Hispanic culture and gypsy/flamenco culture. It is inherent in this dance-drama within a movie. You must willingly suspend disbelief in the realistic sets set on an obvious dance stage with scrimmed and lighted backdrops. Likewise to accept the plot, you must suspend disbelief in phantom lovers, duels for honor, and happy-ever-after endings -- although be forwarned that the ending of this Bewitched Love (a better translation than the usual "Love, the Magician", altho' there are at least three other ways to interpret the ambiguous Spanish title words) can be understood only as a comedy, or comedie noire. The action, singing and dancing are compressed into the lines of flamenco dances as tightly as pure emotion can be condensed into a sonnet, or any other strict form, and yet they transcend with the freedom of the gypsy spirit, if you but open yourself to the experience. The first of Saura's great dance movies.

As an avid fan of classical music, ballet, opera, I am, more often than not, confounded by the poor quality of films based on these genres. If they're not "dumbed down," they are "interpreted," beyond recognition, or simply a vehicle for the director to shout: "look at me! I'm DIRECTING!"

But Carlos Saura has placed the story (full of passion, fire, lust, longing, love, sin and redemption) well ahead of his own ego. He simply allows the story to be told through dance, music and sparse dialogue.

Add to this the quality and nature of the choreography where again, we are simply allowed to experience the story: the dance, and its appropriateness to the subject matter tells us all.

Musically, it is almost, also, perfect. My one reservation lay in some acoustically "awkward" moments that render de Falla's critical orchestration less effective. I will not name them, in the hopes that the reader will not notice them and therefore, not be disappointed.

Nevertheless, the music is brilliant, and these three elements of form work together for a powerful, moving, and thrilling experience. As music with dance creates an experience that is more than both, this creation is much more than a film.

See it with a loved one. Or alone at night with a glass of Fundador...

This is the story of an Andalusian gypsy woman called Candela (Cristina Hoyos) living in Cadiz slums . It regards a haunted young girl being mysteriously harassed by his ex-husband Jose (Juan Antonio Jiménez) and every night she goes to the place where his old lover died to dance with his ghost . It starts with a bloody confrontation between a violent man and a passionate gypsy , both of whom are dueling for the heart of a pretty young girl , Lucia (Laura Del Sol) , Jose's lover . As Jose has dead in a razor fighting , although Candela affection goes on . The Jose's ghost is still obsessed with Candela's soul . Carmelo (Antonio Gades) is accused of killing , subsequently imprisoned and years later he is released and then declares his love for Candela. However, the woman goes on cursed by the bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where José died to dance with his ghost.

This is the exciting story about two men confront for the heart of the same woman . Having been based on a ballet, the movie does use dance extensively , particularly in some rather striking and eerie dream sequences . The movie version appears partially to modify this plot, largely removing the ghost angle and turning the story into two lovers, one good and one evil, competing for the same woman. Movie is based on a ballet and music by prestigious Manuel De Falla concerning a woman in an arranged marriage who loves another man . When her husband dies , she thinks she's free to pursue her true love, but the husband's ghost refuses to let her go, and she must find a way to get rid of him to win her true love . However, the ghost angle does not appear to have been jettisoned completely ; at the beginning of the movie, she thinks her husband is dead and that his reappearance is that of a ghost. There are other two versions about this play : 1949 Bewitched Love by Antonio Roman with Ana Esmeralda, Manuel Aguilera , Miguel Albaicín , Elena Barrios and 1967 by Francisco Rovira Veleta with Antonio Gades , La Polaca , Rafael de Córdoba.

It is directed with a striking visual sense and very well acted. So it's definitely a more cultured affair than most of the Spanish movies. It is fundamentally a tragic melodrama with ballet scenes , that's why it is musically riveting , it is almost, also , perfect and laced with glimmer photography , particularly shown on the spectacular and sensitive dancing set pieces . I was able to enjoy many of the visual elements, in fact this one results to be the quintaessential Dance film , featuring brilliant and frenetic choreography and embellished thanks to its chromatic aesthetic and a high-caliber Flamenco score , including songs sung by the greatest : Rocio Jurado , adding sensual re-creations of love , passion , betrayal , and jealousy . Freely based on ¨El amor brujo¨ , as the film filled out the story with spoken dialogue , but nevertheless used the entire score of the ballet , along with additional songs and dances performed by characters in the film. El Amor Brujo (Love, the Magician, literally, Spell-bound Love or The Bewitched Love, sometimes translated as Wedded by Witchcraft) is a ballet composed in 1914-15 by Manuel de Falla to a libretto by Gregorio Martínez Sierra . In 1916, Falla arranged a rendition of the work for sextet and small orchestra and the following year he made a concert version, also for small orchestra . Later, he fashioned a piano suite from it and finally , a second ballet version (1925) that features expanded orchestration, elimination of the narration, small cuts and plot changes, and a different order to the numbers . The work is distinctively Andalusian in character with the songs in the Andalusian Spanish dialect of the Gypsies. The music contains moments of remarkable beauty and originality ; it includes the celebrated "Danza ritual del fuego" (Ritual Fire Dance), "Canción del fuego fatuo" (Song of Wildfire), and the "Danza del terror" (Dance of Terror) . As the entire location knows about the haunting , but still brands Candela as crazy because she dances every night with her husband's ghost ("Danza del terror") . Candela, now a widow, is free to establish a relationship with Carmelo, but continues to be haunted by her husband's ghost . As Candela gets advice that a ritual dance is necessary to cast the ghost off ("Danza ritual del fuego"), but it does not work . The great quartet starring formed by four splendid dancers : Antonio Gades , Cristina Hoyos ,Juan Antonio Jiménez , and Laura del Sol are really fabulous .This splendid motion picture was compellingly directed by Carlos Saura.

Formalismo, that school of Hispanic literature that emphasizes form as function, or form over function, has little to do with Saura's EL AMOR BRUJO. This is Saura's final work in his flamenco trilogy that began with BODAS de SANGRE and includes CARMEN. As with those two films, Saura bases this cinematic ballet on a previous work, Manuel de Falla's EL AMOR BRUJO. The other two films in the trilogy were based on Lorca's BODAS de SANGRE and Merimee's and Bizet's novel and opera, CARMEN. These three classical works are not examples of formalismo. Rather, they are prime examples of both the realistic and impressionistic schools of literature which under the creative mastery of Saura become sensual re-creations of love, passion, betrayal, and death. The love stories here supercede form and attain a thematic content worthy of the great literary works they portray. The starkness of the set is for symbolic purposes and not for form nor for function. The dilapidated, dusty set represents the emptiness of the soul that has lost great love, or has been deceived by a bewitching love. The set takes on color when Candela dances the Fire Dance, and again at the end when Lucia sacrifices herself to be the eternal lover of the bewitching ghost of Jose, thus setting Candela free from his cursed memory. Saura never lets us forget the tension between reality and fiction as the dawn rises on a new day over a theatrical set free of obsessions with death and love that bewitches the lover.

This is a brilliant film, one of Carlos Saura's best. It is essentially a ballet, laced with gorgeous music and moving photography. I've seen it three times and have enjoyed it more each time.

This isn't a teen flick, of course, and will not appeal to everyone. But for people serious about music, dance, and drama, this shouldn't be missed.