Mallorca, 1865. Mr Bearns' funerals, "better to dye thant to mix blood". Juan Mayol, orphan unknow his past and decides to rebuild his family history
Acting
Fernando Rey's towering, wounded patriarch
Cinematography
Mallorca's light versus suffocating interiors

Director
Jaime Chávarri
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Blai Bonet's novel, the film confronts Spain's buried history of 'limpieza de sangre' — blood purity laws that lasted centuries after the Inquisition.
Chávarri shot in actual Mallorcan estates where families still quietly maintained genealogical records to prove 'pure' ancestry; several extras were descendants of the very system depicted.