Belle Epoque is a Spanish romantic comedy released in the United States in 1994. This film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year. The film is set at the beginning of the Second Spanish Republic. The political climate of this story sets a backdrop for the plot but has a marginal role in the actual story. The setting is referred in the title, which means "Beautiful Era" (and has nothing to do with the French period of the same name).
Belle Epoque opens with two Spanish soldiers who discover a piece of luggage in the road. While investigating the luggage, Fernando (Jorge Sanz) emerges from the woods where he appears to have been emptying his bladder. The soldiers correctly suspect Fernando of desertion and take him into custody. An amusing exchange occurs leading to Fernando's release with a pair of handcuffs still attached to one wrist.
Fernando wanders into a small town where he finds a brothel. He intends to spend the night at the brothel, but ends up departing with an elderly man named Manolo (Fernando Fernan Gomez). The two quickly become friends. However, Manolo's four daughters are due to arrive on a train from Madrid. Out of an abundance of caution, Manolo sends Fernando on his way when his daughters arrive.
Oddly enough, Fernando "misses" his train and winds up back at Manolo's house. Manolo comments on the convenience of Fernando's "plight" but allows him to remain. The four sisters, Violeta (Ariadna Gil), Amalia (Mary Carmen Ramirez), Rocio (Maribel Verdu) and Luz (Penelope Cruz) become infatuated with Fernando and individually look for opportunities to seduce him. What keeps things interesting as Fernando works his way through the pack are two key points. The four sisters are unique and different and Fernando earnestly loves each of them when he is with them.
Belle Epoque is not so much romance as it is comedy. The romantic elements are more lust driven than intimate. The light aspects of the relationships allow the comic elements to develop, keeping the film from becoming heavy. The sisters are a key element in creating a believable environment to "exploit" Fernando. Because their characters are well developed, unique and interesting, the audience is allowed to almost sympathize with Fernando, who seems to be having a great time in spite of his constant love. The story was fun but does make one question if the ending was ever a happy one. Rafael Azcona created a wonderful story and turned it into a fabulous enjoyable screenplay.
I enjoyed watching a young Penelope Cruz in this film. Her character was the strongest but taken the lightest by the other characters. Cruz was excellent wearing her emotions on her sleeve. Sanz had to convince viewers that he was in love with each character as he interacted with each of the beautiful women in this film. Not a stretch, by any means. But Sanz did a good job of convincing me of his devotion to each girl when they are together. All Gil, Ramirez and Verdu needed to do to keep me happy was to be beautiful. They were. But their performances were also excellent. I had trouble with Gomez early in the film mainly because his part did not seem credible. Later in the film, some things made sense and I was able to view his performance without the character issues clouding my enjoyment. Gomez was good. The cast was selected for talent and beauty. Or maybe it was beauty and talent. Either way, exceptional casting.
The comic elements of Belle Epoque were the strength of this film. However, the sensuality and sex played a major role. The sex scenes were graphic enough and frequent enough to raise a flag of caution even though they had a tasteful quality. There was not much in the way of nudity, but the sexuality was graphic in spite of that fact. I would caution against pre-teen viewers and might even suggest this film would be suited to a slightly older audience, maybe with a base-line in the mid-teens. The film has a run time of one hour, 49 minutes.
Director Fernando Trueba has taken an excellent screenplay and added beautiful cinematography, sensual talented actresses and excellent actors resulting in an enjoyable sensual comedy. Although some aspects were a bit hard to accept, the light flavor of the film helped gloss over some of the minor inconsistencies. The characters were richly developed which enhanced my enjoyment of the film. This film could easily have been massacred. The elements needed to be presented with just the right flavor to be believable. Trueba accomplishes that balance expertly. A fun light-hearted look at sensuality. 8/10.
Trailers and images subject to copyright.
