Ana Belén Movies

This play on the jitters-at-the-altar theme finds the groom backing out before the fateful "I Do," not just once, or twice, but three times! ~ All Movie Guide

When an elderly relative (Francisco Rabal) who has made a fortune in the Americas returns to Spain for a visit with his relatives, the mother (Conchita Velasco) of a bevy of daughters feels certain that at least one of them can snare him for a secure future. Imagine her frustration, then, when the old fellow falls in love with the family's servant girl (Ana Belen). Not only is she haplessly preventing the family's daughters from snaring a mate, the servant has been having an affair with a priest which was not good for anyone. In the end, the old man's love prevails, the conscience-ridden priest is freed of his entanglement, and the newly married couple move out of the country. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Deeply layered with much symbolic and allegorical material, the generally non-narrative events in this film revolve around Ana (Ana Belen) a girl who has been diagnosed with a terminal case of cancer. In one scene, she is injured in a Madrid Public library when a police horse crashes through a plate glass window. The police have just been violently dealing with protestors who are objecting to the state's handling of the trials of six men accused of involvement in the death of a policeman. In another scene, a man claims he can cure her of cancer, but she must turn her mind over to him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Ana Belen plays a woman, married to a television announcer, who is increasingly dissatisfied with her life and her marriage. After being horribly scared by a dog, she has a miscarriage. Later, she finds a similar dog and makes him her pet and, it is suggested, her lover. Her husband, somewhat aware of this situation, is frustrated at being denied the sexual favors of his wife. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on a 1943 book of the same title by Camilo José Cela, Colmena features the comings and goings of a wide variety of characters, all trying to survive in a poverty-stricken Madrid during World War II. Rather than feature any single story line, these people from all walks of life cross paths almost randomly as they come to a café to sip their one cup of coffee and work on a book, or pick up a prostitute, or get their shoes shined, or play billiards, or just warm themselves on a cold winter's day. This primary setting is complemented by a brothel where a dirt-poor journalist sleeps if there is a room available that night, while during the day he tries to make ends meet one way or another. The demeanor of the people in the café or in the brothel effectively conveys the atmosphere of a long-lost era that may have had hardships but also brought a subtle sense of camaraderie to very disparate human beings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

La Corte de Faraon is a romp of a zarzuela ("operetta" is a loose translation) that first appeared in 1910 (original libretto by Guillermo Perrin and Miguel de Palacios, original music by Vicente Lleó). The Pharaoh rewards his victorious general Putifar (Josema Yuste) with a new bride, Lota (Ana Belen), but the general is more intrigued with his own ego on his wedding night, and in the morning he dashes off. Along comes Friar José (Antonio Banderas) with his soulful eyes and innocent sexuality, and Lota aggressively goes after him. He escapes, but when brought before the Queen, she follows Lota's precedent and the poor Friar barely escapes a second time with his virtue intact. (In the original the Friar is none other than Joseph of the colored coat.) In this updated version, the troupe of zarzuela players gets in trouble with the police, and the whole lot of them are hauled in for scandalous behavior. Between the on-stage and off-stage insanity, the singing, the dance numbers, the music, the slapstick, and the slams at censors, police, and political repression -- this zarzuela upholds the tradition of pleasing all types of viewers. Except Franco, that is -- he banned the operetta. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This crime thriller was produced in association with the Spanish Ministry of Culture. When Lucas (Fabio Testi) is busted on a drug charge, he is visited by his wealthy court-appointed attorney Beatriz (Ana Belen). The two fall in love and she bails Lucas out of jail, but he is soon murdered by thugs who try to find where he hid his cocaine stash. Beatriz continues to investigate, but the clues bring her to her father Fidel (Marcel Bozzuffi). She soon discovers her respectable father leads a double life as a business tycoon and a drug lord. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this somber and slow-moving drama, the overbearing mother of six daughters is consumed by the emotional trauma of her husband's death. One daughter is compelled to hang herself when she realizes she will never escape her mother's icy emotional grip. The story is taken from the play by Federico Garcia Lorca. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This wacky comedy depicts a single day in and around the set of a movie on the Spanish Civil War being filmed in a working class Madrid neighborhood. Paloma, (Ana Belen), a bored housewife with a husband who is too concerned about being exploited by "the ruling classes" to work, must evade the romantic advances of an unattractive fishmonger, and cope with the attentions the male lover of a homosexual fascist is showering on her daughter. Meanwhile, she engages in a tryst with the equally bored fading film star Luis Doncel (Juan Luis Gallardo). Everyone on the set is waiting for the director to show up, but he's too heavily involved in a domestic dispute to work. Meanwhile, a series of strikes has brought Madrid to a virtual standstill. Director/co-writer Jose Luis Garcia Sanchez manages to satirize virtually every aspect of contemporary Spanish society, as well as relationships between the sexes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a Picasso painting has been stolen. Various people are involved in the resolution of the story, including a lawyer with an eye for the women, and that lawyer's diffident shy client who winds up with the lawyer's gorgeous girlfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide