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"The film's humor is based on life's absurdities,
politics, most of all, human nature."
The basic story takes place around the time
of the Spanish Civil War, telling the adventures of a former
seminarian, who is now an army deserter, Fernando (Jorge Sanz),
in Spain in 1931. After being taken in by an elderly, lonely
artist, Manolo (Fernando Fernán Gómez), who takes
a strong liking to young Fernando because of his political views,
and friendly personality.
Then to spice up the plot, Manolo's four beautiful
daughters arrive for a visit. This happens just before Fernando
is about to leave Manolo's villa refuge, and board a train.
Fernando, of course winds up staying to get to know these enticing
women. Fernando ends up quickly falling in love and having romances
with all four of the man's pretty daughters. Rocio (Maribel
Verdu), Violeta (Ariadna Gil), Clara (Miriam Diaz Aroca), and
Luz (Penelope Cruz), all cause Fernando to have considerable
headaches in this whole process.
To add to the hilarity, is the arrival of Manolo's
opera singing wife, with her manager/lover in tow. Before even
entering the villa, she breaks into an operatic aria as she
walks up the front steps, to the pleasure of her family. She
is a bit of an eccentric, and is dearly loved by both her husband,
Manolo, and her long-suffering tour manager.
"Belle Epoque" humorously brings to
life a male fantasy: a young man enjoying the pleasures of four
different women, which humorously points out what can go wrong
in such a situation. That he gets in over his head, so to speak,
is to be expected, although all works out for the best in the
end.
The film is a future classic because it's funny,
sexy, and offers a fascinating look at life in Spain in the
early 1930s, poking fun in a satirical manner of not only human
nature, & French bedroom comedies, but the Catholic Church,
the Fascists, and the Republicans as well, all historical elements
of Spanish politics. The film is crafted like a great work of
art, with great performances, excellent writing, and wonderful
photography, shot in Portugal.
My favorite scenes are the young man's various romantic encounters
with the man's daughters. Each of the sequences are very different
than each other, and each keeps us guessing as to which of the
four women he'll end up with at the film's close.
This is a film that seduces the viewer, encouraging you to lose
yourself in the film as if in a warm embrace. Its like being
single, and young, and traveling back through time to a lusher,
riper, more erotic world than our own. Whether such a time actually,
in fact, ever existed is not the point. If it didn't, it should
have!
The film won numerous awards in Spain. In addition, it won the
Oscar for best Foreign Picture.
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