Paula Molina Movies

This is the fascinating study of a woman in early colonial-era Spain who suffers from the usual grievance of women of that period -- a profound lack of choices. On reaching maturity, she has exactly two: get married to someone of her family's choosing, or become a nun. However, noblewoman Catalina de Erauso was not happy with those choices to begin with, though she chooses the nun option, and after the nun she has fallen in love with dies, she escapes the convent dressed as a man. Then she enters the Spanish military, travels to the New World, and fends off advances from women who find "him" irresistible. Since this is an era when women's cross-dressing can result in charges of heresy or the death penalty, what happens next is truly amazing. When she is finally revealed as a woman, the King of Spain asks to meet with her. Instead of killing her, he grants her a pension, the rank of lieutenant in the Spanish army, and gives her lifelong permission to dress as a man. It may appear to viewers that two different women play Catalina. This is correct: one plays her when dressed as a woman, and Esperanza Roy plays her in male attire. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The poetic and iconoclastic lights of Bohemia have been dimmed in this interpretation of the original play by Ramon Valle-Inclan. Set at the turn of the 20th century in Madrid, the focus is on a perpetual drunk, the blind Max Estrella (Francisco Rabal) and his verses, sayings, and total disregard for his wife and daughter as he pursues both the bottle and the muse. His friend, Don Latino (Agustin Gonzalez) accompanies Max on his travels through the city. Max is rarely sober and can be found in unlikely situations, such as dressing down a government minister for his bourgeois success or commiserating with an anarchist in prison. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Occhei, Occhei was not "occhei" with the Italian censors, who based their judgment on teen Bianca's sexual liaison with her boyfriend and her later gang-rape by three men who saw her lurid disco dancing -- implying that the rape was "her fault." Bianca (Paula Molina) and her friend Rosy (Giulia Salvatori) are 16-year-olds whose lives are filled with nothing more meaningful than what clothes to wear, music to hear, and sex to experiment with. After Bianca's boyfriend avoids her because she has been raped and is therefore a wanton woman, she and Rosy go to stay with Bianca's grandmother in the countryside and plot their revenge on the rapists and others. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Directed by Fernando (Belle Epoque) Trueba, the Spanish/ French Opera Prima stars Oscar Ladiore as a young divorced employee at a news agency. Outside the subway one evening, Ladione chances to meet his beautiful cousin, played by Paula Molina (sister of actress Angela Molina). The two commence an affair, then drift apart. Molina, an aspiring musician, falls under the spell of her pretentious tutor. On the verge of leaving the country with her teacher, she is "rescued" at the airport by Ladiore. The title's significance can be explained by its literal translation, "First Effort" (it is the first romance for Ladione after his marital breakup), and by the fact that "Opera" and "Prima" are slang terms for "Subway" and "Cousin," respectively. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide