Cómo ser infeliz y disfrutarlo

Carmen, a newspaper journalist, is made a widow early in the story when her husband has a massive heart attack and dies. Her life alone, is not exactly what she probably thought it was going to be. Coping with her loss, she goes on with the job, which is about the only thing in her life that gives her some satisfaction.

To make matters worse, she finds out her only daughter, Marta, is pregnant. Being practical, she has the young woman return to Madrid to be near her. Her old home is full of memories that she wants to get rid of, so she begins searching for an pent house apartment overlooking the Retiro Park, something that proves to be a difficult task for her. The men she meets are not exactly what she was hoping for, as they don't compare with the dead husband.

Enrique Urbizu directed this Spanish film based on a book that might be an autobiography of Carmen Rico Godoy, a newspaper woman with a column in one of Spain's leading newspapers. Perhaps the novel was a lot better than what was presented as a film. The only reason for watching this movie was Carmen Maura, one of the most accomplished actresses in the Spanish cinema. Her take on the main character is what saves the film, which suffers from a weak screenplay.

In this movie something happens that also occurred in Urbizu's previous film, of similar title and identical subject, "Cómo ser mujer y no morir en el intento" (How to be a woman and not die trying) and is that the same message that carries the film (clearly feminist) is introduced in a forced and not very real way, making the characters that surround the main protagonist (in both movies Carmen Maura) simple archetypes based in clichés, being the main character the center of the Universe.

All this in a film that pretends to invite to think makes that what we're being told we don't believe it at all. On the other side, and also like in the previous film, there are enough strictly cinematic elements to make the movie interesting; the subtext supposedly is about a successful woman in spite of all the difficulties she goes through, but all this isn't portrait very good.

The movie is almost saved by the actors. Maura, Antonio Resines, Fernando Valverde and Irene Bau are excellent. 6 out of 10.