Marisa Paredes Movies
Artistically adventurous Spanish actress Marisa Paredes has worked with a number of renowned international directors during her career, but she is most famous for her work with Spain's flamboyant Pedro Almodóvar. Madrid native Paredes was studying acting at the city's Dramatic Arts Conservatory when she began her professional career in the 1960s. Making her name as an actress in Spanish TV, stage, and film work during the 1960s and '70s, Paredes began to attract more international attention in the 1980s. After appearing in Sus Anos Dorados (1980) and Fernando Trueba's comedy Opera Prima (1980), Paredes starred in her first Almodóvar film, the ribald comedy Dark Habits (1984). Among her other 1980s work, Paredes earned the Onda Madrid Prize for her performance as the wife of a Nazi concentration camp doctor in Tras El Cristal (1985). Paredes earned more acting laurels as the unbalanced actress and potential murderess Becky in Almodóvar's High Heels (1991). Solidifying her international prominence, Paredes worked in French, Mexican, and Italian productions, as well as Spanish, throughout the 1990s. After acting with Philippe Loiret in Tombes du Ciel (1993), Paredes starred as a troubled pulp romance writer in Almodóvar's The Flower of My Secret (1995). Paredes starred as Marcello Mastroianni's ex-wife in innovative Chilean expat Raoul Ruiz's comedy Three Lives and Only One Death (1996); appeared in Mexican director Arturo Ripstein's florid crime drama Deep Crimson (1996), based on the same story as The Honeymoon Killers (1969); and played Roberto Benigni's mother-in-law in the Oscar winning Holocaust dramedy Life is Beautiful (1997). After adding a U.S. production to her credits with Talk of Angels (1998), Paredes once again made a colorful role even more so with her passionate turn as diva actress Huma Rojo in Almodóvar's critically hailed, award-winning drama All About My Mother (1999). Though it did not draw as much attention, Paredes also won kudos that same year in Arturo Ripstein's No One Writes to the Colonel (1999). Paredes' consistent excellence earned her Spain's National Film Award in 1996. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
Pedro Almodóvar directed this story of a woman and her circle of friends who find themselves suffering a variety of emotional crises. Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is a single mother who has raised her son, Esteban (Eloy Azorín), to adulthood on her own and has come to emotionally depend on him. One night, Manuela and Esteban take in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire; after the show, Esteban is struck and killed by a passing motorist as he dashes into the street to get an autograph from Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), who played Blanche. Emotionally devastated, Manuela relocates to Barcelona in hopes of finding her ex-husband (and Esteban's father), who is now working as a female impersonator. Manuela becomes reacquainted with old friend La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a transsexual, and is introduced to Sister Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a good-hearted nun who has to contend with her considerably more cynical mother (Rosa María Sardà). While looking for work, Manuela becomes acquainted with Huma Rojo. Huma, on the other hand, has troubles of her own, most involving her drug-addicted significant other, Nina (Candela Peña). Displaying Almodóvar's trademark visual style and a unusually strong sense of character-driven drama, Todo Sobre Mi Madre/All About My Mother received a highly anticipated theatrical run in Spain before winning the Best Director award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival; in 2000, Almodóvar would receive the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, (more)
One dysfunctional family's problems hold up a mirror to larger issues of racism and misplaced patriotism in this Spanish drama. Berta (Marisa Paredes) is a nurse who is edging into middle age and looking for a husband; she also looks after the three teenage children of her recently deceased sister. Eduardo (Imanol Arias) is a hard-drinking police investigator who encounters Berta during a trip to the hospital; they hit it off and begin dating. But Berta's new romance could pose a problem for her niece, Lucia (Maria Isasi), whose boyfriend, Fausto (Jose Luis Alcobendas), has a lucrative illegal business smuggling illegal aliens from North Africa into Spain. Adding to tensions around the house, Lucia's brothers, Raul (Alberto Ferreiro) and Guillermo (Roger Casamajor), are members of an extreme right-wing group who have been implicated in the murder of an illegal immigrant from Senegal (Emilio Buale). Berta tries to ignore the ugly truth about the youngsters in her care, but when Eduardo is assigned to investigate the case of the murdered immigrant, she is forced to face the reality of her family's actions. Salvajes was the first feature film from director Carlos Molinero. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marisa Paredes, Imanol Arias, (more)
Guillermo del Toro, who quickly became one of the most talked-about directors in contemporary horror films with his first two features, Chronos and Mimic, takes on a more subtle tale of terror with this psychological suspense piece. Casares (Federico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes) operate a small home for orphans in a remote part of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Helping the couple mind the orphanage are Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), the groundskeeper, and Conchita (Irene Visedo), a teacher who is also involved with Jacinto. Casares and Carmen are aligned with the Republican loyalists, and are hiding a large cache of gold that's used to back the Republican treasury; perhaps not coincidentally, the orphanage has also been subject to attacks from Franco's troops, and an unexploded bomb waits to be defused in the home's courtyard. One day, a boy named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at the home, looking for a place to stay after being left behind by his parents. Casares and Carmen take him in, and the boy soon strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jaime (Inigo Garces), a boy with a reputation for tormenting other kids. But Carlos soon begins having visions of a mysterious apparition he can't identify, and hears strange stories about a child named Santi who went missing the day the bomb appeared near the orphanage. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, (more)
A recently released psychiatric patient and a would-be thief make a pact that will dramatically alter the course of both of their lives in writer\director Pablo Malo's twisting drama. Adrian is a rich kid with some serious mental problems. Released from the psychiatric institution where he has lived since he was just a young boy, Adrian settles in the house granted to him by his estranged father. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, dreary-eyed criminal Gonzalo, the son of an ageing hooker, is running short of cash, and looking for a big score. When Gonzalo attempts to burgle Adrian's house, the unstable owner catches him red-handed. But Adrian isn't interested in turning Gonzalo in, and he's willing to forget the whole thing if the thief will just help him to acquire a pistol. Gonzalo agrees, sending both men's lives spiraling out of control. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Unax Ugalde, Marisa Paredes, (more)
Writer and director Manuel Gómez Pereira takes a look at the funny side of same-sex marriage in this farcical comedy. Magda (Carmen Maura) is the manager of a posh resort hotel that is to be the site of a marriage ceremony bringing three gay couples together at once. One of the husbands-to-be is Magda's son Miguel (Unax Ugalde), who will exchange vows with Óscar (Daniel Hendler). However, while things are harmonious between Miguel and Óscar, Óscar's meddling mother, Ofelia (Betiana Blum), is making life miserable for everyone. Narciso (Paco Léon) will be tying the knot with his lover, Hugo (Gustavo Salmerón), but both are having family problems -- Hugo's uptight parents, Helena (Mercedes Sampietro) and Hector (Tito Valverde), aren't sure if they're willing to attend, while Narciso's man-hungry mom, Nuria (Verónica Forqué), threatens to make a spectacle of the ceremony. And actress Reyes (Marisa Paredes) will be on hand to see her son Rafa (Raul Jimenez) marry Jonas (Hugo Silva), who happens to be the son of her gardener Jacinto (Lluís Homar). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2005
Adapted from author Agustina Bessa-Luis' novel The Soul of the Righ, writer/director Manoel de Oliveira's Magic Mirror travels deep into the restless psyche of a well-to-do woman who longs to experience a divine vision. Previously imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Luciano (Ricardo Trepa) emerges into the real world in desperate need of a sense of direction. Luciano is haunted by the death of his sister Camila, though he does his best to stay distracted from family ghosts by going to work at the manor house of malcontent rich woman Alfreda (Leonor Silveira). Married to the much older Bahia (Duarte de Almeida), Alfreda has no children and spends much of her time discussing religious issues with eccentric Bible scholar Herschel (Michel Piccoli). When man-in-waiting Luciano fails to convince Alfreda that her fixation on the Virgin Mary is merely a delusion brought about by mental malaise, he subsequently hires local girl Filipe (Luis Miguel Cintra) to pose as the Madonna as part of an elaborate, but obscure, ruse. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ricardo Trêpa, Leonor Silveira, (more)
The efforts of an American ex-patriot living on a remote Mediterranean to establish himself as a serious musician are constantly thwarted by every inhabitant of his small village in director Francesca Joseph's ensemble comedy drama. Larry (Stanley Tucci) thought that by moving to the village that was once home to a celebrated European composer he would find inspiration, but instead he just spends his nights playing for peanuts in the local pubs. Eventually Larry becomes convinced that if he stages a gala tribute to the late composer the locals will finally take note of his talent. But organizing such a lavish event and convincing the late composer's widow (Marisa Paredes) to allow her esteemed late-husband's works to be played publicly by a famed pianist (Virgile Bramley) isn't going to be easy, especially when it begins to seem like everyone wants their say in the event. Now, with everyone from Larry's neurotic partner Miranda (Jessica Stevenson) to the late musician's lovely muse Helena (Emmanuelle Seigner), opportunistic Englishman Sebastian (Hugh Bonneville) and his capricious brother Dickie (Rhys Ifans), and even Larry's long lost daughter Frankie (Jena Malone) crawling out of the woodwork, the put upon pianist will have to balance out the chaos that swirls around him if he holds out any hope of delivering his true masterwork. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stanley Tucci, Rhys Ifans, (more)
- 2008
Following in the footsteps of her father, actor-cum-director Ugo Tognazzi, and her brother, director Ricky Tognazzi, Maria Sole Tognazzi makes her helming debut with the emotionally-amped melodrama L'Uomo che ama (The Man Who Loves). At its core, the film embodies an exploration of gay-influenced heterosexual perspectives and attitudes in the early 21st century. Pierfrancesco Favino stars as Roberto, a straight Turin-based pharmacist emotionally attached to his younger brother, the homosexual Carlo (Michele Alhaique). Roberto witnesses Carlo's delirious happiness with lover Yuri (Glen Blackhall) and feels extremely envious that Carlo has found someone. Though Roberto has proven himself capable of landing successful relationships in the past - his previous lovers include sexy hotel employee Sara (Ksenia Rappoport) and the drop-dead-gorgeous art gallery proprietor Alba (Monica Bellucci) - these relationships invariably ended in heartbreak, with Roberto either being dumped (in the case of Sara) or abandoning his partner (in the case of Alba). As time rolls on, he begins to feel a palpable sense of his own lingering happiness and dissatisfaction, and attempts to reconcile this with his convictions that everyone else in the world is completely satisfied with life. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierfrancesco Favino, Kseniya Rappoport, (more)
Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In finds him joining forces with Antonio Banderas for the first time in over 20 years. Banderas plays Dr. Robert Ledgard, a plastic surgeon who has invented a type of fake skin that is more durable than real skin. But he achieves this breakthrough with the assistance of Vera (Elena Anaya), a young woman he's keeping locked up in his mansion. The only person who knows about this unusual arrangement is his maid, Marilia (Marisa Paredes). But his secret, as well as additional sins of the past he's desperate to keep hidden, bubble to the surface when Marila's criminal son shows up with a gun, forces his way into Vera's room, and attempts to rape her. The Skin I Live In played at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.