A kid just wants a bike while the world burns around him. Devastating.
In Madrid, the family of Don Luis, his wife Dolores and their children, Manolita and Luisito, share the daily life of the Civil War with their maid and neighbours. Despite having failed his exams, Luisito wants his father to buy him a bicycle. However, the situation forces them to delay the purchase and the delay, like the war itself, is to last much longer than expected.
Acting
Victoria Abril's ferocious breakout before Almodóvar claimed her.
Direction
Chávarri traps you in claustrophobic bourgeois rooms while bombs fall outside.
Writing
The bicycle promise becomes the most heartbreaking MacGuffin in Spanish cinema.
Director
Jaime Chávarri
Amparo Soler Leal
Dolores
Agustín González
Luis
Victoria Abril
Manolita
Alicia Hermida
Antonia
Patricia Adriani
María
Marisa Paredes
María Luisa
Carlos Tristancho
Julio
Gabino Diego
Luisito
Aurora Redondo
Marcela
Emilio Gutiérrez Caba
Anselmo
Laura del Sol
Bailarina
Miguel Rellán
Basilio
Guillermo Marín
Simón
Jorge de Juan
Pedro
Marina Saura
Rosa
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during Spain's post-Franco 'Transition,' the film dared to examine Civil War trauma just as the country was pretending to forget it. The bicycle became a national metaphor for broken promises.
The title comes from a popular Republican-era song promising bicycles for summer—Luisito's naive faith in this lyric becomes the film's crushing dramatic irony.
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