Rosa María Sardà Movies
- 2006
A professional actor shocked at the unexpected appearance of his grown, but long estranged son finds his life suddenly thrown into chaos with the arrival of the handsome seducer in director Victor Garcia León's bitterly funny comedy drama. Santiago (Juan Diego) makes a modest living as an actor -- his latest role being that of supporting player in a conventional farce which finds him cast opposite his decidedly younger live-in girlfriend, Ana (Cristina Plazas). When Santiago's thirtysomething son, Guillermo (Juan Diego Botto), suddenly appears on his doorstep without so much as a word of warning, the aging actor is eager to give the boy the boot despite the objections of his charmed girlfriend. Though it soon becomes obvious that Guillermo is a compulsive liar who makes no bones about using his good looks to get in good with the ladies, the roles of father and son gradually begin to shift as Santiago falls into a self-destructive pattern of impotence and self-pity and Guillermo is forced to take care of his troubled dad. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juan Diego, Juan Diego Botto, (more)
An expectant, ultra-modern mother living in 1913 Barcelona is thrust into a complex and labyrinthine mystery when her psychiatrist husband goes missing and she is forced to seek the help of her conservative brother-in-law in locating her missing spouse in director Joaquin Oristrell's Freudian period comedy. Alma is a modern woman of very modern means; her father Spain's foremost neurosurgeon and her husband, Leon, a devoted follower of controversial Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. After arriving home one summer afternoon to find her tearful husband mumbling incoherent words of woe, Alma's life is turned upside down when Leon suddenly disappears. With no one else to turn to than her lovelorn brother-in-law Salvador -- likewise a psychiatrist who secretly pines for Alma despite being married to her sister -- Alma's discovery of a strange manuscript on hysteria and female sexuality proves the launching point for a tireless quest to locate her missing husband and discover the true meaning behind his inexplicable disappearance. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonor Watling, Luis Tosar, (more)
Spanish actress/author/filmmaker Icíar Bollaín writes and directs the family drama Te Doy Mis Ojos (Take My Eyes), co-written by Alicia Luna. Pilar (Laia Marull) leaves her abusive husband, Antonio (Luis Tosar), during the middle of winter in Toledo, Spain. She and her son, Juan (Nicolás Fernández Luna), go to live with her sister Ana (Candela Peña). While supportive, Ana doesn't fully understand Pilar's situation. Pilar's mother, Aurora (Rosa María Sardà), refuses to acknowledge the problem. Antonio is desperate to win back Pilar. He sends her constant presents and even attends therapy sessions in order to work through his anger. Meanwhile, Pilar gets a job at an art museum and tries to restart her life. Take My Eyes won several awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival before making its U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laia Marull, Luis Tosar, (more)
Madrid in the wake of the Spanish Civil War serves as the setting for this epic period romance, starring Leonor Watling of Talk to Her fame. Watling is cast as Elvira, a young woman still reeling from the execution of her father and the imprisonment of her politically outspoken husband, Julio (Ernesto Alterio). Desperate to make ends meet, Elvira takes a position as a maid with the mysterious Pablo (Leonardo Sbaraglia), about whom Elvira's mother-in-law (Norma Aleandro) has serious doubts. It turns out that the half-German Pablo is aiding the escape of several prominent members of the Nazi party, a fact to which Elvira is oblivious when she begins an illicit affair with him. When Julio is released from prison, tensions come to the fore for the extended family and the mysterious outsider among them. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonor Watling, Leonardo Sbaraglia, (more)
Spanish director Imanol Uribe examines social upheaval as it relates to a young prepubescent's life in his 2002 coming-of-age tale Carol's Journey. Twelve-year-old Carol (Clara Lago) is accompanying her mother Aurora (Maria Barranco) to Spain to visit her mother's native village as the Civil War is tearing the nation apart. Carol's life is an emotional roller coaster, as her American-born father -- with whom she is extremely close -- has been away for quite some time, serving as a pilot in the International Brigades. Furthermore, Aurora recently received a terminal diagnosis for the illness she has been battling and could die at any moment. As Carol struggles with these issues as well as the acceptance of the new environment she has been cast into, she gains perspective from her gentle grandfather Amalio (Alvaro de Luna) and the village teacher Maruja (Rosa Maria Sarda), as well as an unexpected first love with local boy Tomiche (Juan Jose Ballesta). Adapted from Angel Garcia Roldan's novel A boca de noche, Carol's Journey was an official selection to the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clara Lago, Juan José Ballesta, (more)
The debut film from the filmmaking team of Daniela Fejerman and Inés París, A Mi Madre le Gustan las Mujeres is a racy comedy starring Rosa María Sardà as Sofía. Divorced for years, Sofía gathers her three daughters, Sol (Silvia Abascal), Gimena (María Pujalte), and Elvira (Leonor Watling), together to celebrate her birthday and to make an announcement. It seems Elvira has fallen in love, which excites the girls until she reveals that it is a woman that she's been seeing. The title, A Mi Madre le Gustan las Mujeres, is Spanish for My Mother Likes Women. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonor Watling, Rosa María Sardà, (more)
Fernando Trueba's El Embrujo de Shanghai (The Shanghai Spell) is a drama set just after the Spanish Civil War. Dani (Fernando Tielve) is a 14-year-old would-be artist who is hired to care for the elderly Captain Blay (Fernando Fernán Gómez). Blay convinces the young boy to paint Susanna (Aida Folch), a young woman from the local village. Susanna's father, Kim (Antonio Resines), is a rarely seen but beloved resistance figure, while her mother, Anita (Ariadna Gil), is considered the sexiest woman in town. One of Kim's associates shows up and begins an affair with Kim, while the two teenagers begin a tentative first romance with each other. The film is adapted from a novel by Juan Marse. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Tielve, Aida Folch, (more)
Actors and egos are lampooned in this witty satire written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Joaquin Oristrell. Isabel (Veronica Forque) is a popular acting teacher running a school in Madrid. One day, she runs across a script written by famed film director Mario Fabra (Daniel Jimenez Cacho). As she reads it, she realizes that the script is about a brief but unforgettable fling she had with the filmmaker 21 years previous. She promptly calls up Mario and arranges lunch. Their reunion is nervous and awkward as if their ardor has not cooled one whit in spite of the fact that each is involved with someone else -- Isabel is dating a younger acting coach named Alberto (Jorge Sanz) while Mario is with a beautiful though neurotic TV star named Cecilia (Candela Pena). For his latest film, Mario is looking for fresh faces and asks Isabel to line up some of her better students for an audition. Soon everyone in the school is preparing scenes from theater's canon of masterpieces, from Hamlet to Oedipus. In the process, actors clash and egos inflate. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Verónica Forqué, Daniel Jiménez Cacho, (more)
One of the most renowned directors of Catalan cinema, Ventura Pons explores the themes of aging, relationships and loyalties in a strong psychological drama which uses the will written by an ailing man as a catalyst for the true emotions of others to surface. Jaume Clara (Joseph Maria Pou), a professor of medieval literature, is getting old. Sensing that his time is near, he thinks back on his life and reflects on what he can leave behind for those he loves. He writes his will in essay form, loosely based on Ramon Llull's Book of Friends and the Beloved, and stores it in his computer. The reactions he provokes from the people involved are quite different than what he expected. His best friend Pere (Mario Gas) is disturbed by the will and thinks it must be Jaume's fear of death that has prompted him to write such a thing. David (David Selvas), his brightest student, refuses to be Jaume's heir at the expense of his freedom. Meanwhile, Pere is having family problems involving his wife and his daughter. Five people have to face up to the idea of Jaume's death, a painful process that does not spare anyone's feelings. As war breaks among the five, it is hard to know who are the winners and the losers. Pons weaves an intricate web of tragic relations and conflicts in this film, which was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josep Maria Pou, Rosa María Sardà, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, (more)
Post-Franco filmmaker Fernando Trueba's first Spanish-based feature since 1993's Oscar-winning Belle Epoque, La Nina de Tus Ojos begins in 1938, when Spain is torn by Civil War. As a sign of cordiality between General Franco and Adolph Hitler, a Spanish film crew is invited to Nazi Germany's UFA Studios in Berlin to make two versions of a popular Andalusian musical. The cast includes sexy, golden-hearted Macarena (Penélope Cruz), director Blas Fontiveros (Antonio Resines), leading man Julian Torralba (Jorge Sanz), art director Castillo (Santiago Segura) and alcoholic Rosa Rosales (Rosa Maria Sarda). On arrival, they gape at the resplendent shooting facilities, thankful to escape the misery of their war-torn country. However, it is not long before they realize what they have got themselves into, particularly when Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels (Johannes Silberschneider) falls for the Latina charms of Macarena. German actress of Fassbinder fame Hanna Schygulla makes a cameo appearance as the wizened wife of the lustful propaganda minister. La Nina de Tus Ojos competed in the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penélope Cruz, Antonio Resines, (more)
Scripter Sergi Belbel and director Ventura Pons based this film on Belbel's 1991 play, structured in a fashion similar to Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde (1900) and Richard Linklater's Slacker (1991): Two character set-ups feature one character from each scene turning up in the next scene, and so on, as a variety of people parade through diverse romantic and sexual situations. Cars careen about via an altered camera speed to provide the linkages between the 11 interlocking scenes. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Selvas, Laura Conejero, (more)
- 1997
In order to prepare for her role as a certain well-known actress, a young woman has lengthy conversations with three different actresses who were good friends with the famous star. Emerging from these conversations are three equally different versions of the past and the events that shaped their lives and careers. This cinematic adaptation of a theatrical work is true to the original, but does not stray far from a theatrical rendering of the story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosa María Sardà, Nuria Espert, (more)
- 1997
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In this sequel to the acclaimed Sighs of Spain (and Portugal) (1995), two picaros, slick Juan (Juan Luis Galiardo) and his innocent pal Pepe (Juan Echanove) return to Spain with Angelica (Rosa Maria Sarda) and Carmela (Neus Asensi). Pepe and Juan, both in love with the same woman, are on the brink of suicide when they are invited by TV-host Lanzagorta (Javier Gurruchaga) to tell their story on his show, "There Is Always a Right Way." In a series of flashbacks from the TV studio, Lanzagorta leads his viewers through a morass of misery in a materialist society as experienced by Juan and Pepe, as he turns their suffering into mass entertainment. Filmed in the poverty-stricken back alleys of Madrid. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juan Luis Galiardo, Juan Echanove, (more)
This Spanish-French comedy set in South London seeks to demonstrate that human relationships provide an excellent example of chaos theory. Featuring a bilingual cast, the story centers on Luis, an introverted bookworm who travels to London, accompanied by his overbearing mother, to stay with his aunt Olivia. Olivia has a tempestuous relationship with a handsome television actor, Duncan. Her child belongs to him. With all these people together under one roof, the situation in the apartment is quite chaotic. However, Luis' mother eventually goes back home and Duncan, who is caught philandering at a party, gets the boot. Soon Luis and Olivia are having a torrid affair of their own until his mother returns and causes all sorts of trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Pareja de Tres concerns two best friends, Ana and Marta, who decide to share a man as well. When he leaves both of them for a different woman altogether, the two friends strengthen their bond by setting out together to seek revenge. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Music and sex provide the motivation for this lively Spanish comedy that centers on 20-year old horn player, Pablo, who is nursing a broken heart after breaking up with his boyfriend. Following a failed audition for the National Youth Orchestra, Pablo encounters another musician, Salome who doesn't believe he is really gay and takes him to a psychiatrist to prove it. Pablo's domineering mother, a laundress who affects a vast musical knowledge, wants him to reunite with his former lover, but this does not stop her son from secretly wishing he could be with Salome who in the meantime, falls in love with Pablo's father, a music teacher, who has quietly used his influence to sneak his son into the orchestra after all. Mayhem ensues as Pablo simultaneously deals with his sexual ambivalence and a gentle rivalry for first chair in the horn section. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this sex farce, two eccentric manufacturing families from far-flung regions of Spain have come to Madrid in order to try and influence a government ministry's decision about who will make a particular set of Army uniforms. The man of the house, in one of the families, has married into it purely as a business arrangement. His current extramarital arrangement is with the family company's lovely female lawyer. Meanwhile, his decidedly odd wife has been experiencing sexual ecstasies while reading self-help books, and her sister has been passing the years by longing for the return of an old lover, a political radical she lost track of years ago. It turns out that the former radical is now the government minister they all hope to influence, and the minister's assistant is intensely interested in his old flame, the sister. The competing family head is also pursuing the sister in the other family, under the mistaken impression that she is the adulterous lawyer. Meanwhile, a transformation is taking place with the do-it-yourself addicted wife. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosa María Sardà, Juanjo Puigcorbe, (more)
- 1990
In this comedy, Yon (Jorge de Juan) is one of four college students, friends, who are not above using extraordinary means to pass their exams. For instance, not long ago one of them pretended to have a head wound so that he could conceal a radio transmitter in the bandages and give his pals a detailed preview of the exam he was taking. So it's only natural that such hardworking boys would be upset when one of their number learns that he has flunked his final exams. Yon's response was to write a very strongly worded anonymous letter of protest to his professor and post it in a bright yellow mailbox. Afterwards, he realizes with panic that he has inadvertently included the letter from the school informing him of his results in the exam, giving his identity away. Enlisting the help of his friends, they steal the offending mailbox in order to recover the letter. Unfortunately, their girlfriends aren't in on the game, and don't understand what they're up to, posing several delicious obstacles to a quick resolution of Yon's difficulties. It also doesn't help that a drug dealer has been using that same mailbox for drop shipments, and has been keeping an eye on it. When he sees the boys steal it, he doesn't immediately assume that anything good is happening. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miguel Molina, Jorge De Juan, (more)
- 1987
In this comedy, a manufacturer of turrón, a candy which resembles the honey-almond confection halvah, wants to promote it outside the regions of southern Spain where it is a traditional Christmas treat. It is particularly associated with a festival during which the wars between the Christians and the Moors are ritually reenacted. The manufacturer and his sons travel to a Madrid food festival to sell, sell, sell. The father also persuades his reluctant daughter, a woman with political ambitions, to use her connections to help promote their candy. With some difficulty, they garner a mention in a women's weekly magazine and on a television program. In a macabre comedy scene, having returned home, the manufacturer dies and is put in a coffin that is too small and is paraded down the street during the aforementioned festival in Alicante. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Fernán Gómez, Andres Pajares, (more)
