Amparo Soler Leal Movies
- 1964
After Amador (Maurice Ronet) murders his aunt and another woman, he tries to resolve his differences with the mother of his child. His girlfriend (Amparo Soler Leal) talks the thirtysomething Amador out of another murder. He seems to kill out of human weakness as the film takes an almost humorous look at his deadly activities. This offbeat film is neither a psychological drama nor a thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Ronet, Amparo Soler Leal, (more)
- 1983
In this inconclusive, confusing story about an aristocratic Majorcan family with connections to the Pope and much more darkly, to the secrets of a Masonic Order kept in a doll's room, the patriarch of the family (Fernando Rey) and his wife and cousin come to no good end for reasons that are never very clear. The entire story is told in flashbacks by the patriarch's son, who also has connections to the Catholic Church. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Rey, Ángela Molina, (more)
- 1986
- R
Antonio (Jose M. Sacristan) is a vagabond traveler who hitches a ride into a small town. He takes a job in a restaurant before landing a better job in the local movie theater. Antonio remembers the owner as the woman who employed his acting troupe years before when he was a young child. He later gets mixed up in a plot to steal a valuable painting from a convent. The English title of Cara de Acelga is Spinach Face. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José M. Sacristán, Fernando Fernán Gómez, (more)
- 1974
Aurora (Ana Belen) is a high-school teacher. When two attractive men fall in love with her, she enjoys their attention. One of them is a young student of hers (Jaime Gamboa), the other is a man returning from his many years of exile following the Spanish Civil War (Fernando Fernan Gomez). Her gentle and wise handling of these two fragile hearts gives this story its focus. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Set in the mid-1980s, this sitcom-like domestic comedy centers on a bright young man's endeavors to escape his crazy family life. Jorge's ordeal began when his recently-widowed mother Carmen moved herself, him and his brother Alvaro into her parent's comfortable but strange middle-class home. Their grandfather is a stern Francoist general suffering from alcoholism, memory loss and an earnest desire to launch a military coup. Their grandmother is stone deaf, domineering and has not spoken to her husband in years. Duli the maid never stops smiling. An introverted intellectual sort in his late teens, Jorge finds the situation difficult to accept. His rebellious brother Alvaro, who wants to be a Mod and turn Madrid into a riotous version of Brighton Beach during the mid- '60s, also hates it there, but as their mother is busily studying for her college degree, they have little choice. Jorge turns to stealing money from his increasingly forgetful grandfather in order to escape the crazy household. While Jorge busily makes himself rich, the grandfather somehow manages to pull off his coup. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Manuel Alexandre, Zoe Berriatua, (more)
- 1970
This colorful horror tale begins with Benito Freire (Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez), a pedlar and trader of charms and fabrics in a small village in northern Spain. He spends his spare time as a wolf man, murdering women and burying their corpses in the Ancines Woods. Only a forest dwelling witch knows his transformation is caused by epileptic seizures. The Abbot (Antonio Casas) is called on to form a team to investigate, and local farmers set out wolf traps in an effort to halt the harrowing murders. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal, Antonio Casas, (more)
- 1980
In a gross miscarriage of justice, based on an actual event, two men are falsely accused and convicted of the murder of a missing shepherd from a small Spanish village. A despotic district court judge and a right-wing congressman orchestrate the trial. The two men are subjected to brutal torture by sadistic guards to exact a confession of guilt. The men serve 6 years of a 15-year prison term before they are released, and they later discover their alleged victim is alive and well in a neighboring village. The 15-minute torture scene is harrowing, as is the subsequent passage of the exhuming of human corpses. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal, Héctor Alterio, (more)
- 1981
In the three days before an operation on the cancer that is threatening to kill her, a film director (Mercedes Sampietro) remembers a few of the most poignant and meaningful relationships and dreams of her life. The premise for this partially autobiographical movie was taken from the real-life dilemma of the actual director, Pilar Miro. Miro had to undergo dangerous open-heart surgery and used her own experience to co-write the screenplay for Gary Cooper, Who Art in Heaven. In the film, the director's romantic involvement with a journalist and an art student, as well as how she views the results of those relationships, are aspects of her life that get careful scrutiny. A photograph of Gary Cooper just before he died brings mortality sharply into focus for her, hence the title of the film. She also considers her ambitions, dreams that may no longer have time to come true -- and wonders if they ever had a chance anyway. As the surgery approaches, the director's own pessimism colors her view of the life she has spent until that moment. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mercedes Sampietro, Jon Finch, (more)
- 1982
In this movie with a title that refers to putting off an important discussion ("we'll talk tonight, dear"), a major fault line running right under a newly-constructed nuclear power plant is the "important discussion" that needs attending. The head engineer at the plant warns its director of the danger, but the director has other things to do with his time. He does not want to ruin his company's future and his own chances for promotion with a scary scenario of a disaster that may never happen, so instead, he focuses on his love life. He is a classic macho with priorities that run to the bedroom rather than the boardroom. He has a homosexual son who clearly needs some more attention, and his woman of the moment loves him even as his integrity is lying inert on a dung heap. Meanwhile, his friend the company engineer is tormented by the potential for disaster at the soon-to-be inaugurated power plant, but there seems to be very little that he can do about it. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Muñoz
- 1986
After their wealthy fascist father dies, Ana and her sister Laura have the job of settling his estate. The two sisters have not seen one another for some time and imagine they have nothing in common. Ana stayed at home and married a pretty ordinary middle-class man, Laura moved to Paris and lives a far more glamorous life. Complicating their difficult task is the fact that it is taking place during Holy Week, and all sorts of processions and ceremonies are taking place in the streets around them, and ordinary commercial life is at a standstill. The tension between the two women eases somewhat as they come to grips with their common past and, along with their father, bury some of the myths that have overshadowed both of them. The director of this film, Rafael Azcona, is known for his penchant for mocking conservative Spain's many sacred cows, and he continues that tradition in this occasionally comic drama. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Rivelles, Amparo Soler Leal, (more)
- 2003
First-time director Samuel Benmchetrit's 2003 debut Janis et John (Janis and John) follows the comedic exploits of a down-on-his luck insurance salesman as he attempts to make up for some very poor financial decisions. Pablo Sterni (Sergi Lopez), the aforementioned insurance salesman, has, until recently, been an honest business man. As of late, though, Pablo had been siphoning money from one of his more successful client's accounts -- one that covers a very expensive sports car. When that client, Mr. Cannon (Jean-Louis Trintignant), turns in a loss claim for that car for a half-million francs, Pablo finds himself in a tight spot. Inspiration strikes when Pablo learns that his hippy-dippy cousin Leon (Christopher Lambert, billed as Christophe Lambert) has just inherited a million francs from his recently deceased father. Leon, a perpetually stoned record store owner, lives solely for the day his 1973 vision of John Lennon and Janis Joplin's Christ-like return to Earth is fulfilled. After visiting with his cousin, Pablo decides to assist Leon in reliving his dream -- as well as parting him with much of his inheritance -- by convincing his wallflower wife, Brigitte (Marie Trintignant, murdered mere weeks before the film's debut, thus marking her final film appearance) and an out-of-work actor (François Cluzet) to impersonate Janis and John. Janis et John was selected for inclusion in the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Marie Trintignant, (more)
- 1978
Few sacred cows go un-gored in this satirical Spanish movie. In Spain, as in England, instead of getting together over a round of golf, it is customary for the power elite to gather at a country estate for a long weekend of "hunting," which basically consists of standing in one spot shooting at game which is being driven toward the hunters. Between shots, the elite converse. In the story, a Catalan businessman pays an impoverished nobleman for the use of his country estate and its game. He is hosting this party to win the goodwill of a group of investors whom he hopes will back one of his schemes. Sprinkled among the businessmen are some more twisted types, every one of them a genuine aristocrat or the member of some government or other -- even a dictator in exile from his Latin American country. A powerful but disapproving priest surveys the scene with outspoken scorn. When the businessman learns that he has backed the wrong horse, and that a new government is being formed, he scrambles to curry favor with those few of his guests who are part of the next group to come to power. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jose Sazatornil, Antonio Ferrandis, (more)
- 1985
This entertaining comedy is set in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War when a group of Republican soldiers sneak into a village in enemy territory to steal a bull with plans of butchering it to feed themselves. Fate and the bull itself, however, have other plans. One of the surreptitious bull-snatchers knows the village well -- he grew up there, but that advantage alone cannot guarantee their success, as it turns out. The group of five would-be thieves dress themselves in uniforms of the Nationalist troops in an attempt to dissimulate their true identity. But instead of a neat getaway with a bull in tow, they are caught up in the "correo" or running of the bull, they get involved in a religious procession, and in the end, watch as the bull breaks out of a flimsy ring in a bullfight and heads for the hills. Still hungry, the group of men now have to worry about getting back to their own battalion before they are found out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Montesinos, Alfredo Landa, (more)
- 1981
Enrique (Enrique del Pozo) and Ana (Ana Anguita) are two popular singers-turned-actors in this adventure story of the evil Baron Von Nekrus and his minions who are intent on becoming masters of the world, and the two youngsters who are out to stop him. Ana's good-hearted grandfather has been imprisoned by the Baron so he can extract his scientific knowledge, and now Ana and Enrique have joined a musical group called the Coconuts to go on tour and in that guise to infiltrate the Baron's headquarters. They are accompanied by their nanny and tutor Castaneta (Amparo Soler Leal) and an African explorer named Stanley (José Lifante). Against all odds, they get into the Baron's stronghold and free the grandfather -- but it does look very much like the nasty Baron will escape to continue with his nefarious plots in a sequel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Escobar
- 1984
In his second successful starring role in 1983, Agustín Gonzalez is a father who runs a wine shop in Madrid, a city under a three-year siege (1936-1939) because the Nationalists forces of Francisco Franco need to take Madrid before the fascist dictator can be installed in power. The siege has left the Madrileños with very little food, living under the threat of bombs, and worrying about the prospects of defeat. It is the sense of impending disaster, of hunger and deprivation that is oddly missing from this cinematic interpretation of the play by Fernando Fernán Gómez. The daughter in the family (Victoria Abril) enters into a love affair with a soldier and ends up having a baby, the son (Gabino Diego) is coming of age with the maid - and life seems to go on with all its proverbial ups and downs. But without the sharp dialogue of the play itself, this film is not as tautly strung, or as convincingly real as the stage production. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal, Agustin Gonzalez, (more)
- 1974
In Los Nuevos Espanoles, the slow-paced and happily inefficient lives of the "old" Spaniards is transformed as international corporations demand that they conform to more modern standards. In this spoof/satire, five "old Spaniard" insurance brokers suffer through the training techniques of the American company which has bought out the little company they worked for. Not only that, their wives come in for training too. Before long, they are "new Spaniards and are energetically selling insurance "the Bruster way." Though they win awards for being top salesmen, each meets with tragedy as a consequence of this radical change. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José M. Sacristán, Maria Luisa San Jose, (more)
- 1991
This eccentric retelling of a classic short novel by Henry James was so shabbily produced that one trade reviewer (for Variety) rather insultingly suggested that it was made solely as a means for receiving federal grant money set aside especially for the production of Catalan-language films. At least two earlier films with the same story have been made, the (1981) Aspern by Eduardo de Grigorio, and in 1973, The Aspern Affair by Burt Brinkerhoff. In the story, a famous writer has died, leaving behind a completed but unpublished manuscript, and several individuals have plans for the papers' final disposition. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvia Munt, Hermann Bonnin, (more)
- 1972
We can find predecessors of the Spanish Marianela dating back to the dawn of cinema (take a look at D.W. Griffith's Blind Love, vintage 1910). But there's no such thing as an old story if it's done with finesse. Rodio Ducal plays a disfigured young woman who falls in love with blind Pierre Orcel. Theirs is an idyllic relationship-until word comes down that an operation may restore Orcel's sight. In many respects, Marianela can be seen as a worthy precursor to the better-known Hollywood production Mask (1985). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Aurora is a dedicated feminist in the early part of this century, who doesn't need men in her life. She successfully arranges to be impregnated by a man so that she can have a child. The child turns out to be the girl Hildegart, an intellectual prodigy, gifted at languages, music, and literature. She is the center of Aurora's life. However, when Hildegart begins to show what her mother considers to be an unbecoming interest in boys and men, a betrayal of her mother's principles, she executes her one night while she is asleep. This movie slowly unravels the story of Hildegart's birth, development and murder as it emerges during a 1933 murder trial. The story is based on the novel Aurora de Sangre by Eduardo de Guzman. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal
- 1981
This is the third film in a sequence that started in 1978, about the Marquis de Leguineches, his hopeless son Luis José, his mistress/servant Viti, and in this instance, a Catholic priest. The Marquis has been living in Madrid since he lost his villa, and when his father-in-law dies, the family gets together and that becomes a catalyst for thinking more directly about their future. This leads to the Marquis' decision to leave Spain with the family's money, yet it will be difficult to cross the border without having their wealth confiscated by the authorities. So the Marquis fakes a broken leg and stashes the wealth inside his cast on a journey to Lourdes to seek a miracle. Unfortunately, France is no more amenable than Spain to the wealthy aristocracy since Mitterand's socialist government has just been elected into power. Between his unwieldy cast, the crazy family members, and the problem of where to go next to keep his fortune intact, the Marquis has a rough time of it. The repartée among the Marquis' family members and friends will entertain most audiences, but the originality of the 1978 family has worn thin by now and will be difficult to stretch into yet another episode in the future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Escobar, Amparo Soler Leal, (more)
