Tormento

A mature man , an Indiano called Agustin Caballero (Francisco Rabal) , returns to Spain from South America to meet his relatives Rosalia (Concha Velasco) and Francisco De Bringas (Rafael Alonso). At home he meets a beautiful servant , Amparo (Ana Belen) ,and he falls in love for her . Before getting married , Agustin to be aware she has a dark secret and the intense drama emerges .

In the final of the Francisco Franco dictatorship takes place a fall of the Franquist state/Catholic Church relation , it originates the realization of a lot of films dealing with the loving stories between priests and women , such as ¨Pepita Jimenez (1974), about Juan Valera novel , directed by Rafael Moreno Alba with Stanley Baker and Sarah Miles , ¨La Regenta¨ , based on Leopoldo Alas Clarin , by Gonzalo Suarez with Emma Penella , ¨Cartas De Amor De Una Monja¨ by Jorge Grau with Analia Gadé and ¨Tormento¨ . This one was well directed by Pedro Olea , being based on Benito Pérez Galdos novel . It starts the fruitful collaboration between important producer José Frade and Olea , both of them create a trilogy set in Madrid , formed by ¨Pim , Pam , Pum .. Fuego ¡ (1975) ,¨La Corea¨ (1976) and this ¨Tormento¨ (1974) . Its main inconvenient resides on a boring and slow storyline written by various hands , as playwright Ricardo López Aranda , novelist Angel Maria De Lera , producer José Frade and the same director ; all of them attempt regularly concentrate the original screenplay in a limited runtime : 90 minutes . Furthermore , a strict censorship avoided the explicit moments on the relationship between the lovely servant and the affected priest .

Well shot with appropriate settings and a large as well as notorious Spanish star-system . As main cast is pretty well , such as Ana Belen as a maid who has a torrid affair , Francisco Rabal as veteran Indiano who realizes his sweetheart has a hidden romance , Javier Escriba as suffering Padre Polo and Concha Velasco who steals the show as the mean , jealous cousin . Support cast is frankly excellent , plenty of familiar faces such as : Rafael Alonso , Maria Luisa San Jose , Amelia De La Torre , Milagros Leal , Ismael Merlo , Maria Isbert , among others. Colorful and evocative cinematography by Fernando Arribas , showing splendidly exteriors from ¨Madrid Castizo¨ , including ancient monuments and classical buildings of the Austrias . Very good and adequate production design by Antonio Cortés . Atmospheric though sad musical score by Carmélo Bernaola . The motion picture was professionally directed by Pedro Olea , a good craftsman who has directed nice films such as : ¨Tiempo De Tormenta¨, ¨El Dia Que Naci yo¨, ¨El Maestro Esgrima¨, ¨El Bosque Del Lobo¨, ¨Aquelarre¨, ¨Dias De Viejo Color¨, and several others . Rating : Acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .

This is one film that seems more like a TV miniseries: based on a Benito Perez-Galdós work, it tells the story of a woman (a housemaid called Amparo - Ana Belén) working in the house of a very hypocritical woman (Concha Velasco), and who has two men in love with her, one priest that is in permanent sin because of her (or that is his view of the story), and a rich man who is visiting Madrid.

This is a very interesting work. Firstly because you realize how near are those rural dramas that are so typical in the Spanish literature to the noir novels: a femme fatale who does not know why has a terrible fate, and because of many facts that seem arbitrary and the morals of the society she is living with, she can't run from them. Other thing I liked is the humor the movie has (the story is too over-the-top to work without humor). Another, the great work of Concha Velasco as a really mean character. And most of all, the ending, which sums the many visual metaphors this "Tormento" has.

But there is a very rigid style that shows how Pedro Olea was still learning, like very abrupt editing (when someone begins to talk, there is always a close-up of their face) and tiring music. Anyway, a very amusing movie, very well acted, and ultimately satisfying that predicted the good things to come from Pedro Olea, and which is notably better than his first serious work, "El bosque del lobo".