La regenta

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Clarín, which narrates the difficulties of Ana Ozores (Aitiana Sánchez Gijon) to adapt to the sordidness of life in Vetusta, a provincial city of northern Spain inspired in Oviedo. Ana married the former prime magistrate of the city, Víctor Quintanar, a kind but fussy man much older than her . The young Ana, married to the retired regent (Hector Alterio) , lives oppressed by the provincial hypocrisy and the mystical fears of an absorbing religion. Sexually dissatisfied, beset by constant erotic dreams, she reveals in her confessional her intimate torments, and to complete the circle, D. Fermín de Pas, her confessor (Carmélo Gomez) begins to feel a morbid passion for her. At the same time,feeling sentimentally abandoned Ana falls for Álvaro Mesía (Juán Luis Galiardo) , a Don Juan, who intends to seduce Ana.



Top-drawer retelling based on La Regenta , it is a realist novel by Spanish author Leopoldo Alas y Ureña (1852-1901) , also known as Clarín, published in 1884 and 1885 with high-class , middle-class and priests as protagonists , these forces find in extreme tension, as the Asturian writer narrates a cruel story of Spanish provincial life in the days of the Restoration .The flick is vey well set in Oviedo (there is even a Statue dedicated to La Regenta in Oviedo) : Vetusta , "Vetusto" in Spanish stands for "antiquated", "extremely old", a provincial capital city, very identifiable with Oviedo, capital of Asturias - especially since it is said that two monks, Nolan and John, founded the city, this being Oviedo's mythical genesis. On the other hand the film uses the city of Vetusta as a symbol of vulgarity, lack of culture and hypocrisy. There lives the main character of the work, Ana Ozores "La Regenta" , being excellently played by Aitiana Sanchez Gijón who lets herself be courted by the province casanova, Álvaro Mesía magnetically performed by Juan Luis Galiardo .Ana incarnates the tortured ideal that perishes progressively before a hypocritical society. Carmelo Gomez is top-notch as Fermin , Ana's confessor and canon in the cathedral of Vetusta who also falls in love with her and becomes Mesía's unmentionable rival. These great actors are completed by a great panorama of secondary characters, well portrayed by the filmmaker with merciless irony, completes the human landscape of the film , such as :Miguel Rellán , Amparo Rivelles , Fiorella Faltoyano , Cristina Marcos , María Luisa Ponte ,Manuel Alexandre , Juan José Otegui , Virginia Mataix , Luis Barbero , Conrado San Martín , Tote Garcia Ortega , Francisco Vidal , Francisco Merino , and José María Caffarel , among others .

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It packs a colorful as well as evocative cinematography . Sensitive and emotive musical score by Bingen Mendizabal . Impressive and spectacular production design by the prestigious Gil Parrondo who formery won Academy Awards for Patton and Doctor Zhivago . Being lavishly produced by Classic Films Produccion and Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) . This series was splendidly directed by Fernando Mendel Leite in three episodes .This novel has been adapted to Film and TV, the best results to be this written and directed by Fernando Méndez-Leite and premiered in 1995. Other nice adaptation was directed by Gonzalos Suarez with Emma Penella , Keith Baxter , Adolfo Marsillach , Nigel Davenport , Maria Luis ponte ,, Pilar Bardem . Also a Musical will be premiered at the Campoamor Theatre, in Oviedo, hometown of La Regenta; "La Regenta El Musical" on July 2012, written and composed by Sigfrido Cecchini

What at first sight seems to be a typical 19th century love story turns out to focus rather on more or less allegorical social criticism than on mere emotionalism. But to become aware of this you have to familiarize yourself with Spanish history. Orphan female protagonist Ana Ozores, the most beautiful woman of northern Spain imaginary province capital Vetusta, is married to elderly aristocrat don Víctor de Quintanar, who seems to prefer hunting to satisfying his young wife's emotional and spiritual needs. No wonder she's courted by two extremely ambitious men in Vetusta (evidently the pseudonym of the actual Oviedo, capital of Asturias): "Don Juan" Álvaro Mesía, politician, embodiment of libertinage and social progress, and Don Fermín, her father confessor, who symbolizes conservatism and bigotry in the Vetusta's small-minded microcosm. In the end Ana succumbs to Álvaro's charm and is unfaithful to her husband who challenges his opponent for a duel. Álvaro kills Ana's husband and leaves for Madrid, while priest don Fermín begins to despise the woman he once adored. What Ana had thought to be true love and friendship in the beginning ends with the protagonist's absolute loneliness when she notices that she had been a mere toy both to Álvaro and his political adversary Fermín - her "brother of soul": Both betrayed her confidence only in order to show off their power. Besides the story, the actors' artistic merits are notable and make this film worth seeing.