A repressed cardiologist learns his own heart has other plans. 1950s Spain has never felt this suffocating.
Dr. Molinos, a prestigious cardiologist, and his wife Isabel are going through a serious marital crisis. They live in Oviedo, in the oppressive Spain of the 50s, in the company of two maids: Escolástica and Jovita. His only daughter, Maribel, entered a convent of nuns. The unexpected love felt by Dr. Molinos for Julia, a young doctor who is much younger than him, makes him feel alive again.
Acting
Fernando Guillén's trembling restraint vs. Mercedes Sampietro's volcanic bitterness.
Production
Garci's obsessive recreation of 1950s Oviedo—every lace doily is political.
Direction
Static camera as emotional prison; nobody escapes the frame.
Director
José Luis Garci
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Garci, a notorious Franco nostalgist, made this as 'critical nostalgia'—the regime's aesthetics weaponized against itself. The tension between loving the look and hating the system is the whole point.
Released the same year as 'The Full Monty' and 'Titanic'—while Hollywood celebrated liberation, Spain was still exhuming its repressed past. This film barely made a ripple internationally.
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