''Little Ashes'' is a 2008 Spanish-British drama film set against the backdrop of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
during the 1920s and 1930s, as three of the era's most creative young talents meet at university and set off on a course to change their world.
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...
watches helplessly as the friendship between
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
painter
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
and the poet
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
develops into a love affair.
''Little Ashes'' won the
GLAAD Media Award
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...
for "Outstanding Film−Limited Release" during the
21st GLAAD Media Awards
The 21st GLAAD Media Awards was the 2010 annual presentation of the media awards presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The awards seek to honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that fairly and accur ...
.
Plot
In 1922, 18-year-old
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
(
Robert Pattinson
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor. Known for starring in both big-budget and independent films, Pattinson has ranked among the world's highest-paid actors. In 2010, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the 1 ...
) arrives at
art school
An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...
in Madrid. The ''
Residencia de Estudiantes
The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence", is a centre of Spanish cultural life in Madrid. The Residence was founded to provide accommodation for students along the lines of classic colleges at Bologna, Salamanca, Cambridge ...
'', or Students' Residence, is a modern environment which encourages Spain's brightest young minds. Salvador, who is determined to become a great artist, soon catches the attention of the ''Resis social elite — poet
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
(
Javier Beltrán
Javier Beltrán Andreu (born 18 May 1983 in Barcelona, Spain) is a Spanish film and theatre actor.
Beltrán pursued his studies in Barcelona, which included a four-year humanities course at Pompeu Fabra University. He later studied dramatic ar ...
) and aspiring filmmaker
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...
(
Matthew McNulty
Michael Anthony McNulty (born 14 December 1982), known professionally as Matthew McNulty, is a German-born British actor.
Early life
McNulty was born on 14 December 1982 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, West Germany, and lived in Berlin and Münster ...
). Together, they form the nucleus of the most modern artist group in Madrid.
Their private lives become increasingly complex, as Federico ignores the advances of devoted friend and writer Magdalena (Marina Gatell), and Salvador himself feels the pull of Federico's magnetism. Luis, becoming increasingly isolated by the duo's closeness, decides to move to Paris to fulfill his own artistic ambitions. Meanwhile, Salvador and Federico leave Madrid to spend the summer at the seaside village of
Cadaques, at the home of Dalí's family.
Federico finds himself accepted into the Dalí family as he and Salvador grow closer until, one night, their friendship becomes romantic. Even as they draw closer, their relationship appears doomed. Luis visits them at university and becomes more suspicious and appalled by their apparent intimacy.
Salvador finds Federico's obsession more than he is prepared to handle, and eventually leaves for Paris. Enveloped by the high society and decadence there, Salvador is soon entangled with
Gala
Gala may refer to:
Music
* ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush
*'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman
*GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups
*''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...
(
Arly Jover
Araceli "Arly" Jover is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her role as the villainous vampire Mercury in the 1998 superhero film ''Blade (1998 film), Blade''.
Life and career
Araceli Jover was born in Melilla, a Spanish region. After livi ...
), a married woman with a penchant for celebrities. When Federico visits, he finds his friend is a changed man, both in his life and his politics.
Background
Details of the relationship between artist Salvador Dalí and poet Federico García Lorca have long been the subject of speculation and debate among historians and biographers. In ''Little Ashes'', Dalí's and Lorca's feelings are shown deepening into a love affair that the sexually repressed painter tries (but fails) to consummate.
Between 1925 and 1936, during the course of their friendship, Dalí and Lorca exchanged numerous letters. The original manuscripts of Dalí's letters to Lorca are held by the ''Fundación Federico García Lorca'' in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, and those of Lorca to Dalí are held by ''Fundacion Gala-Salvador Dalí'' in
Pubol, as well as in private collections. While it is widely acknowledged that Lorca was infatuated with Dalí, for years the painter denied entering into a relationship with Lorca.
Dalí stated:
The film's writer Philippa Goslett supposes:
Biographer of both Dalí and Lorca, Ian Gibson, stated:
In the repressed Spain of the mid 1930s, Lorca's homosexuality seems to have provided an additional thrill to those who assassinated him in 1936. Lorca's biographer Leslie Stainton has suggested that the killers made remarks about his sexual orientation
Cast
*
Robert Pattinson
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor. Known for starring in both big-budget and independent films, Pattinson has ranked among the world's highest-paid actors. In 2010, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the 1 ...
as
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
*
Javier Beltrán
Javier Beltrán Andreu (born 18 May 1983 in Barcelona, Spain) is a Spanish film and theatre actor.
Beltrán pursued his studies in Barcelona, which included a four-year humanities course at Pompeu Fabra University. He later studied dramatic ar ...
as
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
*
Matthew McNulty
Michael Anthony McNulty (born 14 December 1982), known professionally as Matthew McNulty, is a German-born British actor.
Early life
McNulty was born on 14 December 1982 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, West Germany, and lived in Berlin and Münster ...
as
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...
*
Marina Gatell as Magdalena
* Bruno Oro as Paco
* Esther Nubiola as Adela
* Marc Pujol as Carlos
*
Arly Jover
Araceli "Arly" Jover is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her role as the villainous vampire Mercury in the 1998 superhero film ''Blade (1998 film), Blade''.
Life and career
Araceli Jover was born in Melilla, a Spanish region. After livi ...
as
Gala Dalí
Gala Dalí (born Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, Елéна Ивáновна Дья́конова; – 10 June 1982), usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of poet Paul Éluard and later of artist Salvador Dalí, who were both prominent in ...
* Simón Andreu as Fernando del Valle
* Vicky Peña as Magdalena's aunt
* Rubén Arroyo as Rafael
*
Diana Gómez
Diana Gómez Raich (born 7 March 1989) is a Spanish actress. She became popular for her role as Tatiana in the flashbacks of the crime drama series '' Money Heist''. She is also known for her leading role in ''Valeria''.
Biography
Born on 7 M ...
as Ana María
* Pep Sais as Art Teacher
* Joan Picó as Young Officer
* Ferran Audí as Guard 1
* Adría Allué as Guard 2
* Ferran Lahoz as Señor Milagro
* Cristian Rodrigo as Young Journalist
* Sue Flack as Madam
* Adrian Devant as Puppeteer
* Ramón Enrich as Professor
* Xavi Siles as Man 1
* Philippa Goslett and Hannah Rũtzou as Federico's Sisters
* Paco Alonso as Gypsy Singer
Production
The title is taken from Salvador Dalí's 1927–28 painting ''Cenicitas'' (''Little Ashes''). It was originally called ''The Birth of Venus'', before being changed to ''Sterile Efforts'' and then finally ''Cenicitas''.
[The Shameful life of Salvador Dalí p 162] It was first displayed on 20 March 1929 in a Madrid exhibition. It was again displayed in his first solo exhibition in Paris in June 1931. The painting is currently in the Dalí collection of the ''
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...
'' in Madrid.
Release
''Little Ashes'' premiered at the 16th annual
Raindance Film Festival
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove to ...
in London. The sold-out screening was scheduled on 7 October 2008 at 19:00, and a second screening was also added for 8 October at 14:30. ''Little Ashes'' premiered in the US at the Miami Gay & Lesbian film festival. On 8 May 2009 it premiered in only 11 US locations.
The
UK DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
was released on 13 July 2009 and is rated 15. The US DVD was released on 26 January 2010.
Critical reception
The film holds a "Rotten" rating of 24% based on 70 reviews with an average rating of 4.2 out of 10 on the film review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
. The site's consensus states, "It has a beautiful cast, but ''Little Ashes'' suffers from an uneven tone and a surplus of unintentionally silly moments."
Ty Burr
Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
of the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' panned the film and wrote: "What's intended to be a daring look at repressed sexuality, three-ways and all, has the dramatic heft of a true-love comic book".
Greg Quill of the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' wrote: "Even cinematographer Adam Suschitzky's richly textured and resonantly toned cityscapes and rural scenes can't make up for a flawed script and weak performances in what might have been a powerful historical drama".
Chris Hewitt of the ''
St. Paul Pioneer Press'' commented that: "The movie, with its badly painted backdrops, its stiff acting and its complete lack of dramatic momentum, is embarrassing to watch".
However, Steven Rea of the ''
Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' gave the film a positive review by calling it: "A bravely earnest and gauzy bit of biography".
'Little Ashes': Dalí and Lorca in love - philly-archives
/ref>
References
Further reading
"Were Spain's Two Artistic Legends Secret Gay Lovers?", ''The Guardian'' (28 October 2007)
Aria film synopsis
* George E. Haggerty, ''Gay Histories and Cultures''
* Ian Gibson, ''The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí''
* ''Salvador Dalí: An Illustrated Life'', Tate Publishing
External links
*
*
*
{{GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Limited Release
2008 films
2008 biographical drama films
Biographical films about artists
Biographical films about painters
Biographical films about poets
Male bisexuality in film
British biographical drama films
British LGBT-related films
2000s English-language films
Films shot in Barcelona
British independent films
Cultural depictions of Salvador Dalí
Cultural depictions of Federico García Lorca
Cultural depictions of Luis Buñuel
Spanish independent films
English-language Spanish films
Gay-related films
2008 drama films
Films directed by Paul Morrison (director)
2000s British films