Peppermint Frappé

I enjoyed the film, although I never took Saura to be a great director (as the film's dedicatee Bunuel was sometimes). Geraldine Chaplin is an actress I haven't noticed much in the past: she's very fluent here in her two roles, one staid and one swinging. The real revelation for me is Lopez Vasquez in a stunning performance as the obsessed doctor. I thought of other sad, obsessed characters: Trintignant as the fascist in The Conformist, and Bogart as the scriptwriter in In A Lonely Place. Just to watch him as Chaplin dances around the room with her husband, so free and easy, and he cannot respond to the gaiety in any way, it's awful.

A very proper, very religious and very conservative doctor is obsessed with his long-time friend's wife, and because the events happen during the Franco repression , he acts according to the dictates of time and place :Extermination! the film is dedicated to Luis Bunuel.A very political, expressionist film.

Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez plays the doctor who takes a shine to his school chum's new young wife. Bit more than a shine, he becomes obsessed a la Bunuel and decides his young assistant could be moulded in her fashion a la Vertigo. And there you have it with Geraldine Chaplin in the performances of her life. The film's date will give you a good idea as to the tone that this freewheeling film will take even if the good doctor's obsession never wavers. The direction could have been more steely, more assured and not given the viewer a chance for their thoughts to wander but Carlos Saura does well enough and there are some wonderful moments and great scenes, the seduction of the doctor's assistant, the wondrous bike ride and of course both dance sequences (but then Mr Saura is no stranger to dance). Very good indeed.

Anyone familiar with Bunuel will find a treat of similar proportions in Peppermint Frappe's fascinating study of a fetishistic mind. This film is so carefully gripping that its mild-manneredness hides its thriller nature; instead, the film favours a meticulous reconstruction of a man's past desire projected into a vertiginous present he now creates. For all the layered desire and sexual tension, however, it is the subtle power of sublimation that works best. Consider the long, breath-taking seduction scene of the radiologist, the nurse & the rowing machine. The art direction is excellent and the opening credit music is great. Where the film loses its edge is in the direction, which is not as skilled as that of the dedicatee. This is more noticeable at the end, where the camera movement gives way to freeform and has a very dated late 60's look. A pivotal song in the film is likewise hard to take seriously. Still, the film is mesmerizing & scenic, & Jose of the 4 names- the radiologist, gives a tremendously controlled performance. It's his film and he carries it brilliantly. Ana, the nurse, is excellently portrayed as well. Overall, fascinating but not sharp enough

A very proper, very religious and very conservative doctor is infatuated by his best friend's free spirited wife, who in turn is faithful to his liberal husband Spain during Franco.but this is far from everyday love triangle melodrama ,since this is only a metaphor for Spain during Franco . How does a man belonging and believing in a repressive society act? Magnificent performance by Geraldine Chaplin makes this film one of the best I have seen of Carlos Saura.Not surprisingly, the film is dedicated to Luis Bunuel.