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BELLE EPOQUE
After premiering at the 1993 Berlin
Film Festival, Spanish auteur
Fernando Trueba's irresistibly
seductive Belle Epoque (aka Age
of Beauty) went on to win 9 Goya
awards, an Academy Award for
Best Foreign Language Film and
great international success.
Set in pre-Franco Spain, film
stars Jorge Sanz as Fernando, a
carefree, pacifistic army deserter.
Wandering about the countryside,
Fernando is welcomed into
home of the wealthy painter
Don Manolo (Fernando Fernan
Gomez). Far from upset by the
boy's AWOL status, Manolo is
delighted because he shares
Fernando's political philosophies.
What follows is sheer heaven
for the peace-loving lad, who
sits smilingly on the sidelines
as Manolo's four beautiful and
high-spirited daughters (Ariadna
Gil, a flirtatious Maribel Verdú,
Miriam Diaz-Aroca, and a young
Penélope Cruz) literally fight for
his attentions...
Trueba described Belle Epoque
as the "story of Paradise: too good
to last." His wise humanism and
benign wit evoke memories of the
great French cinematic poet Jean
Renoir.
Spain/France. Comedy/Romance. (M)
108 minutes. 1992
Director: Fernando Trueba
With: Jorge Sanz, Fernando Fernan Gomez,
Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Miriam Diaz-Aroca,
Penelope Cruz
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