A fertility clinic, a dead socialite, and a detective who'd rather be eating than solving crimes.
When the corpse of Encarna Abellan appears destroyed on a beach in Barcelona, the detective Pepe Carvalho begins the research and travels to A Coruña. She was married to a wealthy owner belonging to a well-known A Coruña family and had traveled to Barcelona to undergo a fertility treatment, but had previously had relations with Ginés Larios, a merchant navy officer and ex-boyfriend, whom he had left to marry the rich heir The suicide of the latter seems to be the case by closed, however Carvalho decides to try to clarify everything.
Acting
Puigcorbé's Carvalho: world-weary, hungry, barely tolerating the plot.
Production
Late-Franco aesthetic clinging to 1970s source material like a wet coat.
Director
Rafael Moleón
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Manuel Vázquez Montalbán's 1984 novel, already dated when filmed; the director reportedly fought to keep Carvalho's gastronomic digressions intact against studio pressure.
The A Coruña aristocracy depicted was modeled on real Galician industrial families; Puigcorbé based Carvalho's physicality on Montalbán himself, down to the dissatisfied slouch.
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