L'amour nuit gravement à la santé

Manuel Gómez-Pereira was on a roll, with movies that were each one more polished than the previous one and each one of them having a really good reception from both audiences and critics (the Javier Bardem starred "Boca a boca", now almost forgotten, was talked about everywhere and seen as a contemporary Madrid screwball classic), so he had all the budget and almost everything he wanted for his next movie, this one, in which he decided to talk about love.

A story of a non romantically engaged couple destined to jump into each other at different points of time, with two young actors (Gabino Diego, Penélope Cruz) who looked nothing like the same character elder ones (Juanjo Puigcorbé, Ana Belén) but with some impressive set pieces that also tell the recent history of Spain. It attempts to be several things at the same time: didactic about history and circumstances, and absurd, tragic, and funny about the romcom, and succeeds mostly. This is a common thing in the Gómez-Pereira later works: he never hits all the spots that he is trying to hit, but I admire him for trying so much.

Costumes, cast. The Bernardo Bonezzi soundtrack, all the technical details are incredible. It feels a bit disjointed but it is also very poignant, and the dance scene is one of my favourite movie scenes ever.

Just a week ago I was have this conversation with a friend; she said she wanted to find a man who would marry her and would agree both of them to live in separate places, with their own personal lives. They would be together only when they felt like it. That's the relationship that works, in her opinion; in mine, that's choosing the easy way.

The premise of the movie is very interesting, even though reminiscent of Forrest Gump. The movie itself raises a lot of questions about love, lust, relationships, marriage and ultimately, about sharing a life and the evolution of love in a relationship.

The movie starts well, setting a warm mood, and delivers us a promising story with funny moments. After the first hour this cozy movie begins to turn too repetitive and its otherwise empathetic and cheerful main characters start to make you uncomfortable. We all know passion doesn't last forever and that love has its own evolution in a relationship. We also know time and distance help to heal frustrated love stories.

And as the movie goes by, chance puts the characters in a perpetual never-ending confront about their feelings for each other almost in a masochist way. Even though this is a comedy, we can see the characters suffer with their impossible love, and at certain point I lost total empathy with the characters - they are only in pain because they don't want to make a decision, for the good or for the bad - so the movie becomes boring and overlong running almost two hours.

Hopefully this is a comedy and the title - Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health - could not be more appropriate.

El Amor perjudica seriamente la salud (Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health) is a smartly written and produced Spanish Romantic Comedy dating back to 1996 when two of the 'stars' (Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem) were barely known: of course now, their names add enormous credibility to the DVD issue on today's market. Written and directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira, this is a tale of a boy/man and girl/woman who meet in a slapstick situation in the 1960s when the Beatles were all the rage, fall in love, part and have recurrent meetings over the next thirty years under varying circumstances that prove to be both humorous and sensitive.

In the mid 1960s there is a reception for the King of Spain and in the hotel site of the reception we encounter a bellboy Santi (Gabino Diego) and an over the top Beatle's fan Diana (Penélope Cruz) whose antics include hiding under John Lennon's bed as he makes love to a local trollop, much to the chagrin of the smitten Diana. The two lock in an attraction and over the ensuing years, each becomes married with family in various forms of devotion and fidelity, and as adults Santi (Juanjo Puigcorbé) and Diana (the gorgeous Ana Belén) continue to have mutual assignations in the most bizarre of circumstances. In the end the repeated replay love affairs take their toll and the two eventually manage to proceed with getting on with their married lives with a degree of normalcy ... or do they? The flavor of the various passing decades during which Santi and Diana meet is well captured by the director, the scenic designer, the musical score and by the quartet of superb actors. At times, especially in the beginning, the film seems as though it is going to be a slapstick comedy, one that could become tiresome given the subject matter. But just when madcap 60s pass the tone of the film takes on a more sophisticated stance, dealing with serious issues of lust, infidelity, abuse of power, commitment to family and political changes. It all works surprisingly well and the film ends like a 1940s enduring love story. There are numerous bit parts my serious actors, not the least of which is a split moment by an unknown Javier Bardem who even in that twinkle of time gives evidence of the gifted actor he has become. The very young Penélope Cruz likewise proves not only her early comedic gifts, but shows us that even as a beginner she has electric screen presence. A fun and tender little diversion of a film. In Spanish with English subtitles. Grady Harp

After a well-handled and intriguing light-comedy scene at a reception for the King of Spain, this film returns us to that moment through a thirty-year-long flashback told through numerous rather distinct scenes, each striving toward another amorous turn of triumph in the enduring attraction of the two main characters. The quality of those triumphs matures over time, and in each we confront, to varying degrees, light suspense, nostalgia and humor. The dialogue is at times hilarious - quick turns of phrases, clashes of word choice with social surroundings, etc., but of course understanding the Spanish is at times essential for full comic appreciation.

In the first half of the film occurs a short sequence of rapid-fire madcap stunts that surprise and work well, but thereafter, slapstick is largely absent through the remainder of the film - or at least till the end. As already hinted, some of the scenes end so successfully, and with a sentiment seeming so perfectly to wrap up the film, that I was momentarily disillusioned to see it continue.

As for acting, the leading actors project wonderfully and are capable of charm and "sutileza" (the English spelling escapes me at the moment). I order zone-2 dvds from Spain and received this along with Cielo Abierto, which I rate higher (I like Albaladejo's work). Yet I give this a 7-rating. With many films I can envision how I might reorder or change the work - with El amor perjudica seriamente la salud, I find the basic plot extremely challenging - yet when it did end, all in my family left the room smiling and laughing. There is no graphic sex, and whatever violence that occurs is comic. The language is non-offensive, at least to Spanish sensitivities. Probably my favorite film with a plot vaguely-vaguely similar to this one is Avanti, with Jack Lemmon.

I saw this film as part of a series while I was going to school in Spain. Spanish films tend be, for the most part, confusing, unsatisfying, and obviously low-budget. _El amor perjudica seriamente la salud_ is none of these things. The performances are absolutely outstanding (with a very notable early Penelope Cruz role) and the story is at times screamingly hilarious. At others, it is devastatingly sad. It has the wonderful quality of seeming to be a cute little romantic comedy that actually evolves into a complex, finely tuned film that can easily become the topic of a night's conversation after the film. I've not yet seen it in English, but I'm doing all in my power to find it here in the United States. Truly, truly excellent.