Madrid, 1961. Carlos (Pablo Rivero) , a Law student , manages a cine-club and programs a cycle of the classic "Carl Dreyer" , including classic movies as Vampyr , La passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Dies irae , Ordet , Gertud . Santi (Fernando Andina) is a priest and friend of the family, then visits Carlos' sweetheart , Elena (Elena Ballesteros) , begore going to African missions. Elena is living alone in her spacious house and she was asked by her family to allow Santi to stay at home while he is undergoing medical tests . This will change the live of the couple formed by Carlos and Elena , also affecting Julia (Ruth Díaz) , the club's projectionist who is also secretly in love with Carlos. Meanwhile , Carlos has organized a retrospective of Danish cinema master Carl Theodor Dreyer, an important project in which he will spend time and worry . The cinema series is to be presented in a venue attached to a religious boarding school run by nuns. Things go wrong when the priest suddenly suffers headache , infectious trouble , and other sickness .
This is an agreeable as well as uneven romance story in less than 100 minutes of length and yet with an air of naturalness and credibility rarely match . This is a lightful look at the Madrid of the 1960s that takes our protagonists into twisted situations , as they become involved into triangular dramas , though some scenes do not make much sense . As main actors fall in love among them , as Santi , Elena
Julia and Carlos discover their mutual liking and attraction ; to complicate things the priest , who is undergoing medical tests ,suffers from infection trouble . The film moves in fits and starts most of which would be desirable , with more traps the viewer resists any kind, and some moments of enjoyment and others quite a few embarrassing . It tends to glamorize the 60s , as here the sixties seems to be a period more free than it really happened ; in fact , it was a conservative and repressed society . The flick gives a short description about lives of young people under the focus on three students and a priest . There are brief moments of drama , but predominates light situations , including some love scenes ; above all, the biggest problem with the film is an aimless wandering in its central part that makes the viewer to wander and for a few moments longer interested in a story that does not seem to know where to go until the ending . The best scenes deal with the debate , discussion and analysis of the spectators about Dreyer's films : Vampyr , Jeanne d'Arc, Dies irae , Ordet , Gertud , giving a different viewpoint in direct opposition of the more intellectual critical provided by expert reviewer Carlos .The main cast is pretty well , as Pablo Rivero, being very known thanks to ¨Cuentame¨series , he plays as a young whose passion for films consume his life , he is finely accompanied by Elena Ballesteros as his charming girlfriend and Fernando Andina as the unsettling priest ; besides , an adequate support cast who is frankly good , such as : Ruth Díaz and Isabel Ampudia .
It packs a colorful and glowing cinematography by Alfonso Sanz that heightens the ambiance, being mostly shot in interior scenarios . Along with an evocative and atmospheric score . This decent motion picture was professionally directed by Alvaro Del Amo and it was Nominee Valladolid International Film Golden Spike . Alvaro is a good writer and filmmaker . Being particulaly known for his scripts :La mirada del otro , Camarón , Celos , La buena estrella , Intruso , and La huella del crimen series , directing some shorts and documentary as Visconti: La verdad del melodrama and Pasolini, el poeta en la playa . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable . The picturewill appeal to Spanish cinema buffs .
