Juanjo Puigcorbe Movies

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, Rovi

In this farce, noted Spanish director Joaquin Oristrell sets his sights on a raving sexist and the aftermath of his misdeeds. Ex-athlete and restaurateur Arturo splits his time between training his slow-witted son Arturito in the finer points of speed walking and having an affair with his attractive young cook, Cristal, whom he promises to marry. Of course, the latter activity is hardly popular with his beleaguered wife Paz, who seeks comfort with Cristal's father. When Cristal discovers Arturo and Paz having sex in the kitchen, she plots her revenge by attempting to seduce Arturo's son, until she finds herself falling for the naïve boy. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

This Spanish-French thriller is set in Madrid where latenight radio talk-show host Elena (Beatrice Dalle) gets a call from serial killer Javier Barea (Juanjo Puigcorbe, best-known for his comedy roles) who claims he will kill within the hour. Lawyer Maria Ramos (played by Spanish soap-opera star Lydia Bosch) is listening to the radio and immediately assembles an investigating team that includes Javier himself. Maria begins to suspect he's the killer, but she is simultaneously attracted to him. How long until she becomes the next victim? ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

In this lively Spanish-Argentine comic fantasy, two luckless actors get angry and with the help of a high school drama class jolt a sleepy, rural Argentina town into to taking much-needed political action. Before coming to town the disillusioned duo were making a meager existence performing their little play at cabarets and in small cafes. Despite their adverse position, Angel remains optimistic. Unfortunately, partner Eduardo, a fiery Basque, has had enough and angrily threatens to quit. An auto breakdown leads the two to the town which is in the process of electing new officials. The actors get booked to perform at a campaign dinner. There, the Eduardo loses his cool and launches a fiery attack on the official's big plan for building an enormous tourist hotel. A riot nearly ensues afterward. Later they encounter an old friend and former revolutionary who has become a school teacher in town and it is he who rallies his class to help Eduardo and Angel put their new play on at the town's ramshackle, abandoned theater. Naturally, the mayor and other officials are not happy that a reactionary play is being prepared in their town and do all they can to stop it. In the end, though a final conflict between the officials and the townsfolk provides the story's climax. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

There are many minor occupations in the bullfighting profession aside from the one most people focus on. In this black comedy, Justino (Saturnino Garcia) is a sixty-two year old retired puntillero who lives a carefree life, hanging out at the local bar with his cronies while living with his married son. As a puntillero, his responsibility was to deliver the death-killing blow to bulls in the bullring if the matador failed to do so. One day his son and daughter-in-law irritate him for some reason and he finishes them off the same way and then stores their bodies in the apartment's freezer. After that, just about anyone who irritates him in any way is likely to die, from the policemen who didn't believe him when he confessed to them about killing his son, to a whole houseful of elderly people in an old-age home. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this Spanish-French drama, a Turkish diplomat in Soviet Georgia during 1932 attempts to solve the mysterious death of his predecessor. It is based on the book by Belgian author Georges Simenon. Adil Bey has just been assigned to replace the recently deceased consul at Batum, a town on the Black Sea. From his office he can peer into the apartment of a security policeman. Living with him are his wife and pretty sister Sonia who was both secretary and mistress of the previous Turkish consul. Soon Adil finds himself wanting Sonia. Later he begins to fear that he is being slowly poisoned, much in the same way, that the other consul might have died. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Lady M (Myriam Mezieres) sings in some of the less well-known Paris clubs. She's a gifted performer and is quite beautiful, but her work is not the sort that invites popular acclaim. Despite the fact that she is unlikely to become famous, she enjoys her life as a performer who lives just outside the mainstream. Awaiting her backstage one evening is a Spanish painter who has seen her show and wants to make her acquaintance. They walk around Paris getting to know one another, and then the painter returns to Spain. Something about the man has moved Lady M to passion: she flies to meet him in Barcelona and he shows her his beloved Catalonia. This time, however, their relationship is as much about passionate lovemaking as it is about compatibility. So smitten is Lady M with her new man that when she discovers that the painter has a negro wife and child, she is only a little bit taken aback; she invites his whole family to join her in Paris. Surprisingly, they do, and the number of people sharing their love and sexual appetites changes from two to three. This story is allegedly based on the personal diaries of Myriam Mezieres, who narrates. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

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, Rovi

Daniel and Maria were lovers at one time, but they have long since broken their affair off. However, when they keep running into one another at a Madrid department store, they start to think that perhaps Fate is saying something to them, and reluctantly they try to give one another a second chance -- when they aren't having second thoughts, that is. However, the trick that fate is really playing on them doesn't become clear until the very end. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this comedy from Spain, Carmen (Carmen Maura) is a woman in her early 40s who is nearing the end of her rope juggling a career as a reporter, taking care of her two children, minding the house, and dealing with a husband (her third) who thinks that she doesn't pay enough attention to him, and doesn't mind telling her so. The myriad pressures lead Carmen to consider a divorce, but eventually help comes along, though hardly in the form she expected. The cast also includes Antonio Resines, Juanajo Puigcorbe, and Carmen Conesa. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi