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SOLITARY FRAGMENTS
LA SOLEDAD
Winner of 3 Goyas, including Best Picture and
Best Director.
Jaime Rosales (The Hours
Of The Day) delivers on the
promise of his first film with
this consummately stylish and
quietly devastating family
drama, a huge critical and
audience favourite.
Adela (sad-eyed Sonia
Almarcha), a recently separated
mother living a solitary rural
life, seeks change by moving
from her small native village
in the north of León to Madrid
with her toddler son. Her story
is interwoven with the fraught
interactions of a femaledominated
clan, in which sisters
Helena (María Bazán) and
Ines (Miriam Correa) struggle
for supremacy as their longsuffering
mother (the brilliant
Petra Martínez) tries to keep the
peace.
Rosales brilliantly misdirects
our attention, to create a sort
of anti-melodrama - events
that should be operatically
significant slip by quietly,
while minor disputes become
crises. The acting is uniformly
excellent, and by the heartstopping
finish, you'll know
these flawed, real characters
like your own family.
A word from the Director
Spain. Drama. 130 minutes. 2007. (18+)
Director: Jaime Rosales
With: Sonia Almarcha, Petra Martínez,
Miriam Correa, Nuria Mencia, María Bazán
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