''Orange Honey'' ( es, Miel de naranjas, links=no; pt, Doce Amargo Amor, links=no) is a 2012 Spanish-Portuguese period drama film directed by

Imanol Uribe Imanol Uribe (born 28 February 1950) is a Spanish screenwriter and film director. He won the Goya Award for Best Director and Best Screenplay for the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time''. Biography Born in San Salvador on 28 February 1950 ...

which stars Iban Garate,

Blanca Suárez Blanca Martínez Suárez (born 21 October 1988) is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her performances on television series '' The Boarding School'' (2007–10), '' The Boat'' (2011–13), and the Spanish Language Netflix series' ''Las ch ...

and

Karra Elejalde Carlos Elejalde Garay (born 10 October 1960) better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker. Biography Carlos Elejalde Garay was born on 10 October 1960 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. He developed his early acting career on i ...

alongside

Eduard Fernández Eduard Fernández Serrano (born 25 August 1964) is a Spanish screen and stage actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Goya Awards and four Gaudí Awards. Biography Eduard Fernández was born in Barcelona on 25 August ...

, Carlos Santos,

José Manuel Poga José Manuel Rivera "Poga" (born 10 May 1979) is a Spanish actor from Andalucia. He gained notoriety for his villain role playing Gandía in ''Money Heist''. Biography José Manuel Rivera "Poga" was born in Jerez de la Frontera on 10 May 1979. ...

Bárbara Lennie Bárbara Lennie Holguín (born 20 April 1984) is a Spanish actress, hailed as an indie cinema star. She won the Goya Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 2014 neo-noir drama '' Magical Girl'', also scooping nominations for ''Obaba'' ...

Ángela Molina Ángela Molina Tejedor (born 5 October 1955) is a Spanish actress. Aside from her performances in Spanish films, she has starred in multiple international productions, particularly in a number of Italian films and television series. Family Mol ...

and

Nora Navas Nora Navas García (born 24 April 1975) is a Spanish actress. Biography Navas was born on 24 April 1975 in Barcelona. She has a distinguished and prolific career, ranging from theater to film, through TV movies and series. Her performance in ...

Plot

Set in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

in the 1950s, during the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Sp ...

, the plot concerns the switch towards clandestinity of Enrique, a young

conscript Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

engaged to Carmen.

Cast

Production

''Orange Honey'' is a joint Spanish-Portuguese co-production by Alta Producción and Fado Filmes, with participation of TVE. Shooting locations included

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Release

The film screened at the 15th

Málaga Film Festival The Málaga Film Festival, formerly Málaga Spanish Film Festival (FMCE), is an annual film festival held in Málaga, Spain. The festival was established to promote Spanish cinema and help disseminate information about Spanish films. Since 2017, i ...

on 22 April 2012. Distributed by Alta Classics, the film had a wide release in Spanish theatres on 1 June 2012. Likewise, the release in Portuguese theatres was scheduled for 9 October 2014.

Reception

Javier Ocaña of '' El País'' assessed that the writing by Remedios Crespo, "has flair, affection for his characters and a surprising naturalness in bringing together stories from both sides", even if possibly missing more dialogues concerning a deeper political-social reflection, while considering Uribe's direction to be professional and neat yet lacking any punch or surprise, hence the fresh elements in the film rather come from the combination of some script lines and some of the performances. Jonathan Holland of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' underscored the film to be a "well-appointed but unexciting historical thriller", with the film mixing politics, history and passion "into plodding fare", even if there are "a couple of memorable, touching scenes" towards the end of the film. Fausto Fernández of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó a ...

'' scored 2 out of 5 stars, writing about the film's "languishing" tone and lack of passion, underpinning "a mechanical illustration", while pointing out that, within its "atonic" formal correctness, there are however sequences where Karra Elejalde shines as a villainous military judge.

Accolades

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "2" , 2012 , , rowspan = "2" , 15th

, , Silver Biznaga for Best Direction , , Imanol Uribe , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Silver Biznaga for Best New Screenwriter , , Remedios Crespo , , , - , align = "center" , 2015 , , 4th

Sophia Awards The Sophia Awards are the Portuguese Cinematography, cinematographic and film awards, assigned annually, which aim to recognize the best national productions. Its name was chosen in honor of the Portuguese poet and writer Sophia de Mello Breyner A ...

, , Best Original Score , , Nuno Malo , , , , align = "center" ,

References

External links

''Orange Honey''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' {{authority control 2010s Spanish-language films Films shot in the province of Cádiz Films shot in Madrid Films set in the 1950s Films set in Andalusia 2012 drama films Spanish drama films Portuguese drama films 2010s Spanish films