Victoria Abril Movies
One of Europe's most popular and respected actresses, Victoria Abril has made her mark in more than 60 films produced in France, Italy, and her native Spain. First introduced to American audiences through the work of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who directed her in the controversial Atame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, 1990), the sensual, brown-eyed actress has gained a Stateside cult following, but remains thoroughly European in her choice of films and the roles she plays.Abril first earned wide recognition in Spain as a 14-year-old model on the popular television shows Uno, dos, tres, responda otra vez and 625 lineas. Born Victoria Merida Rojas in Malaga on July 4, 1959, she began studying as a ballet dancer at the age of seven, but following her celebrated turn on TV, segued into acting in the mid-'70s. Abril made her major screen debut in Vincente Aranda's Cambio de Sexo, a 1976 drama that cast her as an effeminate young man who undergoes a sex change. That same year, the actress made her first English-language film, Robin and Marian, in which she played the relatively minor role of a Spanish queen. She went on to do prolific work for the rest of the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and in 1990 had her first collaboration with Almodóvar, for whom she starred as a drug-addicted porn actress taken hostage by an obsessive fan (Antonio Banderas) in Atame!. The film was a success in Spain -- where Abril earned a Goya Best Actress nomination for her performance -- and proved to be a controversial sensation in the States, where its plot outraged certain feminist groups. Abril collaborated with Almodóvar on two more films, Tacones Lejanos (1991) -- in which she played the estranged daughter of an actress (Marisa Paredes), and Kika (1993) -- in which she had a supporting role as an over-the-top tabloid TV program hostess.
Abril scored particular critical acclaim as a darkly amorous landlady in Vincente Aranda's Amantes (1991), winning a Best Actress Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance. Further acclaim came her way with Nadie Hablara de Nosotras Cuando Hayamos Muerto (1995), for which her portrayal of an alcoholic prostitute earned her a Goya and a Best Actress award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. A starring role in the French romantic comedy Gazon Maudit (1995), which cast her as a housewife torn between her unfaithful husband and a butch female truck driver, further increased Abril's popularity. She continued to star in films that emphasized her playful, flamboyant sexuality, maintaining her reputation as one of Europe's most colorful and vibrant performers. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
In this French comedy, a man discovers that he has something unexpected in common with his wife -- they're both involved with another woman. Loli (Victoria Abril) is a woman of Spanish blood married to a French businessman, Laurent (Alain Chabat). Loli is not especially happy as a housewife, though she'd likely be even less happy if she knew that her husband is chronically unfaithful and has had a string of mistresses. Laurent, on the other hand, is convinced that his wife isn't the type who would never have an affair, and what she doesn't know won't hurt her. One day, a truck breaks down in front of Loli's home, and Marijo (Josiane Balasko) asks to use their phone. Marijo is a gruff-looking lesbian who works as a plumber; as it happens, Loli has a stopped-up sink, so in exchange for using the phone, Marijo gets Loli's drain back in working order. Soon Loli and Marijo are getting to know each other a bit better, and Loli discovers that she's powerfully attracted to her new visitor. Marijo becomes Loli's bedmate and a permanent guest at the house, which is more than a bit perplexing to Laurent, but after he accidentally reveals his infidelities to Loli, he's not in much of a position to pass judgement. Josiane Balasko, who plays Marijo, is also the film's director and co-screenwriter. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko, (more)
Clad in a blonde wig, Joe Pesci stars as the title character, a luckless actor. Unable to make it in the real showbiz world, Jimmy starts fantasizing about fame and fortune. His delusions eventually turn into reality when, through a fluke, Jimmy becomes known to one and all as "Jericho," a Robin Hood-like vigilante. Victoria Abril appears in a supporting role and the film's climax features a number of cameo performances. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joe Pesci, Christian Slater, (more)
- 1994
- R
More than a dozen years ago, Patrick (Gerard Jugnot) and Alicia (Victoria Abril) began their relationship by chance at the Peace Inn Hotel on a Mediterranean island. However, despite the fact that they have returned to the place where they first fell in love, it will take more than that for their relationship to survive. For one thing, Alicia is not about to forgive him for the one episode of his infidelity that she knows about. For another, they are no longer wide-eyed young people. Others at the hotel have their own romantic preoccupations, such as the hotel's charming gay male owner, who is being beseiged by a clueless young woman who has developed a crush on him. Surely the people at the hotel long for this vacation to end, along most of the problems that have come with it, but they are taken hostage in a local civil war and have even more difficulties. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Valérie Lemercier, (more)
- 1991
- R
Written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almódovar, Tacones Lejanos is a murder mystery centering on flamboyant actress Becky del Paramo (Marisa Paredes) and her daughter Rebecca (Victoria Abril), a television anchorwoman. After being estranged for 15 years, Becky re-enters Rebecca's life when she comes to perform a concert. Rebecca, she finds, is now married to one of Becky's ex-lovers, Manuel (Feodor Atkine). As the mother and daughter begin making up for lost time, Manuel is suddenly murdered at his home. Unfortunately, which of the ladies is responsible for the homicide remains unclear, even after one of them confesses. Released in the U.S. under the title High Heels, Tacones Lejanos was nominated for several Goya Awards as well as the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1992 Golden Globes. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Marisa Paredes, (more)
- 1991
- R
Vicente Aranda's Lovers is set in Spain, mostly in Madrid, during the 1950s. The story line is reminiscent of Theodore Dreiser's classic An American Tragedy (which was filmed as A Place in the Sun), wherein a passive, amoral, and shallow protagonist inadvertently destroys the lives of two women who love him. The handsome Paco (Jorge Sanz, who also starred in Belle Epoque and has been called "the Spanish Tom Cruise") is a young soldier involved with a virginal maid, Trini (Maribel Verdu of Y Tu Mama Tambien). Trini is saving her money and planning for their wedding, but Paco tells her not to worry, that he will find a job and save money for them. Paco leaves the army, but has trouble finding and keeping a steady job. He ends up renting a cheap room from Luisa (Spanish superstar Victoria Abril, best known for her work in Pedro Almodovar's films), a beautiful and mysterious widow. Before long, Luisa has seduced the sexually frustrated Paco, and involved him in her moneymaking scams. Trini quickly figures out what is going on, and makes a desperate effort to win back Paco's affection. Paco is obsessed with the sexually experienced and voracious older woman, but is unable to break off his long-term relationship with Trini. He attempts to string them both along, with disastrous results. The film was the first of veteran filmmaker Aranda to get a theatrical release in the United States, thanks largely to Abril's star power, and caused a minor sensation with its sexual explicitness, in particular the infamous "handkerchief scene." ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz, (more)
Fabled Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima was the guiding hand behind the fast-paced French comedy Max, Mon Amour. The "Max" with whom the elegant Charlotte Rampling falls in love is a circus chimpanzee (played by a short-statured man in a monkey suit). Charlotte's British-ambassador husband Anthony Higgins has long suspected that his wife was cheating on him, but he certainly isn't prepared for her simian paramour. Amazingly, the film never descends into goofiness: Oshima uses his unorthodox plotline to poke holes in the self-protective pretensions of the Bourgeoisie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charlotte Rampling, Anthony Higgins, (more)
Essentially a tale of romance mixed in with a dash of politics, this engrossing story involves Engracia (Victoria Abril), a young Mexican prostitute working just south of the border with the U.S., and two American border guards who are among her clients: Mitch (Scott Wilson), a tough, go-by-the-book Anglo who has no deep affection for Mexicans, and Chuck (Jeff Delgar), an idealistic new border guard who has yet to learn the ropes. In a few instances, the film exposes the prejudice against Mexicans, but otherwise, politics is secondary to what happens next. Chuck falls in love with Engracia, and the two get married in Mexico -- and then he smuggles her across the border that he himself has been hired to guard. Sure enough, the vile Mitch gets into the act and quite clearly, both Chuck and Engracia are heading for trouble. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Scott Wilson, (more)
- 1984
- R
This technically impressive throwback to the early days of film noir stars Richard Berry as Bruno, a young actor who seems to get blamed for everything. Spotting a gorgeous female shoplifter (Victoria Abril) in trouble, Bruno decides to help her and gets arrested in her place. While lamenting his fate in prison, he is blamed for an escape attempt in which a psychotic guard (Richard Bohringer) is shot. When Bruno's sentence is lengthened, the guard makes his life a nightmare until the terrorized prisoner must lash out in the ultimate rebellion against (and surrender to) his inescapable fate. Director Denis Amar's moody film is strong on atmosphere but weak in characterization, despite an impressively sadistic turn by Bohringer, and the movie leaves the viewer flat rather than moved. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Berry, Richard Bohringer, (more)
This violent spaghettiesque western was filmed in 3-D and chronicles the adventures of a brave gunslinger who is determined to save his fiancee from her abductors, a brutal group of white slavers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tony Anthony, Gene Quintano, (more)
- 1976
- R
Themes long forbidden in Spain under the Franco dictatorship began to be explored in the years just following his demise. In this 1976 film, an unhappy and very effeminate man (played by a woman, Victoria Abril), experiences one difficulty after another. As a boy in Cataluña, his father attempts to teach him to "be a man." These lessons include taking him to a big-city whorehouse to have sex. At the bordello, he successfully avoids having sex with a woman, but when he sees a transvestite revue which culminates in the actors revealing their actual genitalia, he is fascinated. He runs away from home, learns to be a hairdresser, and develops a transvestite act of his own. After numerous love affairs with men, he eventually realizes his transsexual nature and goes to another country to have a sex-change operation. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
Though the story told in Robin and Marian is unfamiliar to most audiences, it is actually quite faithful to several of the ancient Robin Hood legends. During the Crusades, Robin (Sean Connery) is still loyal to King Richard the Lionheart (Richard Harris), but even he has trouble adjusting to the monarch's ever-increasing paranoia and lunacy. After Richard's death, Robin returns to England, his first visit to his home turf in 20 years. He looks up his beloved Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn, last seen in 1967's Wait Until Dark), who is now a middle-aged nun. No sooner do Robin and Marian renew their relationship than the aging Merry Men demand Robin's services in thwarting their old foe, the Sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw). Marian is aghast that the long-standing feud between Robin and the sheriff threatens to expand into wholesale bloodshed. The two venerable enemies agree to one last mano a mano battle -- only to watch helplessly as the all-out war they'd tried to avoid commences anyway. Both the tragic climax and Robin's last, defiant arrow shot are drawn directly from authentic Robin Hood ballads of the 14th and 15th centuries. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, (more)
- 1999
- NR
In this sly comedy of manners, Anne (Victoria Abril) is a free-spirited single mother whose three children were all fathered by different men, none of whom are currently in contact with Anne and none of whom know that Anne bore their offspring. Anne's son Victor (Pierre-Jean Cherit) has started asking his mother questions about who his father is and where he's gone; Anne, however, isn't sure just what to tell him, or any of his siblings, about their Dads without things becoming embarrassing. However, when Anne takes the kids on a vacation to Mexico, she realizes she'd better come up with an explanation and quick, since all three of her former beaux happen to be staying at the same resort where Anne and her brood are registered. Mon père, ma mère, mes frères et mes soeurs was the first directorial credit for actress Charlotte de Turckheim, who also appears in the film as Jeanne. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Charlotte de Turckheim, (more)
- 1990
- NC17
"I'll never love you . . . ever!" the sexy and attractive Marina (Victoria Abril) states emphatically to the love-struck Ricky (Antonio Banderas). You know she means what she says because when she makes this statement she is handcuffed and lashed to a bed, not exactly the proper way to warm anyone up for romance. Yet in Pedro Almodovar's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! the way to a woman's heart is depicted as being held in captivity until the Stockholm Syndrome kicks in. The film concerns the plight of Marina, a "B"-movie diva trying to adjust to her recent success after years of porno films and drug addiction. But then into her life comes Ricky, a part-time handyman and full-time mental patient, who, during one of his past escapes from the mental ward, had spent the night with Marina -- who gave in to him during one of her less-discerning moments. Since then, Ricky has been thinking of her constantly. Determined to win her affections, he kidnaps Marina, holding her captive in her own apartment and trying everything to convince her to love him -- then they could marry and have a big family. All Ricky's attempts to woo Marina fail. Finally, after taking a severe beating from some street thugs, he strikes a chord in Marina's nurturing heart so that when her sister Lola (Loles Leon) finally discovers her plight, Marina no longer wants to be rescued. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, (more)
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