José M. Sacristán Movies

Perrot (Fernando Rey) is a rich man. He is also a meddling, busybody art-hating wacko. It may be that he is a woman-hater as well, for he certainly causes enough trouble for the well-regarded writer, Françoise (Catherine Deneuve). Fortunately, she has resources of calmness and clairvoyance which enable her to endure the trials he engineers. The two first meet at an outdoor cafe, when she shocks him by offering to show him something special, unbuttons her coat, and is apparently nude underneath it. Obsessed, for obscure reasons, he arranges for her to meet with a man who has praised her books. Complications abound, but in this phantasmagorical comedy, Françoise proves equal to the challenge. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A group of businessmen have discovered a man whose face resembles that of the two former husbands of a woman known as "the carrot queen," for her huge carrot-growing empire. In this comedy, they intend to use him as bait to induce the hard-headed businesswoman to sign a lucrative carrot import-export deal. To that end, with many misadventures, they train him how to comport himself on the tennis court, and in bed. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A married professional man and an equally married woman become lovers in the last days of Franco's rule in Spain. The two were an item when they were in college, and both of them are bored with their married state. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Three booze-soaked near-derelicts have a series of macabre adventures on the day when one of them was supposed to report to his new job at the mine, located near their northern Spanish town. Set at the end of the 19th century, and based on A Esmorga by Eduardo Balnacoamer, this story follows the trio on the bender to end all benders. The fellow with a new job is waylaid by his buddies who haul him off to a local bar. There, they get into a fight and wind up knifing a miner. They escape over the wall of a nobleman's villa, and have several strange adventures before settling down peaceably for a late-night drink. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Jose (Jose M. Sacristan) is a radio disk jockey living in Post-Franco Madrid. He is in his 30s and is separated from his wife. After a liaison with a scholar, he discovers another possible match with a woman who works at the same radio station, who has known and loved him since they were both "revolutionaries" in college. During his radio show, which takes place in the small hours of the night, he comments on his life, and life in general. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Roberto Orbea (Jose M. Sacristan) is a Spanish socialist politician who used to be a lawyer. In the film, which is almost completely told in "flashbacks," he reminisces about his recent life. Despite many years of hiding his political beliefs, he is imprisoned and realizes while in prison that he is genuinely homosexual. All along, he has tried to put his sexuality aside, and he married a woman who shares his political beliefs. Even after his release at the end of the Franco era, he tries to avoid expressing his homosexuality, but eventually he and his wife set up a menage a trois with Juanito (Jose Luis Alonzo), a rough young adolescent who is probably a hustler. Featuring an appearance of the renowned director Juan Antonio Bardem, this film raised an outcry at the time of its first release for its explicit depiction of homosexual acts and for its outspokenly pro-Marxist political statements. The film also gained notoriety because it appears to tell the story of several well-known figures in Spanish society. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This thriller is based on the still politically sensitive story of the assassination of General Francisco Franco's heir apparent General Carrero Blanco. The General was to have been kidnapped by the Basque separatists, but when that proved too difficult, they arranged to bomb his car (with him in it) to smithereens. In order to do this, they had to dig a tunnel under a city street. The ensuing explosion blew the car over the roof of a nearby house. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi