''Spanish Affair'' ( es, Ocho apellidos vascos, links=no; ) is a 2014 Spanish

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film directed by

Emilio Martínez-Lázaro Emilio Martínez-Lázaro Torre (born 1945) is a Spanish filmmaker known for directing box office hits such as '' The Other Side of the Bed'' (2002) and '' Spanish Affair'' (2014). Biography Emilio Martínez-Lázaro was born in Madrid in 1945. ...

. It premiered in Spain on 14 March 2014. Six weeks after its release, it became the second biggest box office hit ever in Spain, behind ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

''.

Plot

Rafa (

Dani Rovira Daniel Rovira de Rivas (born 1 November 1980) is a Spanish comedian and actor. Career Early career After graduating in Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Granada, he started touring with Paramount Comedy, performin ...

) has never left his native

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

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 ...

, until he meets a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

girl named Amaia ( Clara Lago), who resists his seduction techniques. Against his friends' advice, he follows her to the Basque Country after she stays the night in his house and forgets her purse. A series of misunderstandings forces Rafa to impersonate a Basque boasting of a stock featuring eight traditional Basque surnames (Gabilondo, Urdangarín, Zubizarreta, Arguiñano from the father and Igartiburu, Erentxun, Otegi and Clemente from the mother, even though Clemente is not authentically Basque), and he gets more and more entangled in that character in order to please Amaia.

Cast

Box office

The weekend of its premiere, the film gathered an audience of 404,020 which resulted in box office grossing of 2.72 million euros. On its second weekend its grossing increased by 56%, third best behind '' The Impossible'' and ''

'' in its first ten days with a total 4.4 million euros. By April it became the most watched Spanish film in Spain with more than 6.5 million viewers and the second film with the greatest box office grossing in Spain, only behind ''

'', with a box-office of more than 45 million euros (more than 62 million dollars). It has grossed in Spain and a total of internationally.

Critical reception

The critics were divided about the film, but were mostly positive. For magazine ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a Spanish language monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin) ...

'', Carlos Marañón stressed that the movie was "extremely funny". This comment was repeated in many reviews that highlighted the film is "funny", and for some, "inspired and bright". Federico Marín Bellón journalist of '' ABC'', spoke of a "brave and timely movie", highlighting another aspect, the opportunity of its theme, which has also been emphasized by most critics who often compared it to the French film '' Welcome to the Sticks''. Writing for daily newspaper '' El País'', Borja Valero even predicted it could be the movie of the year. Regarding the actors, in general, the work of the cast has been well received by critics . On the negative side, Luis Martínez from '' El Mundo'', said that the film is "a bad comedy" while Jordi Costa, from ''El País'', said the development was irregular and ended catastrophically. Fausto Fernández, in the magazine ''

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 ...

'', labelled it as impersonal and described its development as flat.

Accolades

, - , rowspan = 14 align = "center" , 2015 , rowspan = "2" , 20th Forqué Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Fiction Feature Film , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Actor , , Karra Elejalde , , , - , rowspan=4 ,

2nd Feroz Awards The 2nd ceremony of the Feroz Awards was held at the Gran Teatro Ruedo Las Ventas in Madrid, on January 25, 2015. It was hosted by actress Bárbara Santa-Cruz and aired on Canal+ Spain. Winners and nominees The nominees were announced on Decembe ...

, colspan=2 , Best Comedy , , rowspan = 4 , , - , Best Supporting Actor ,

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 ...

, , - , Best Supporting Actress ,

Carmen Machi María del Carmen Machi Arroyo (born 7 January 1963) is a Spanish actress. She become popular for her role as Aída in the television series ''7 vidas'' and ''Aída''. Biography María del Carmen Machi Arroyo was born on 7 January 1963 in Madr ...

, , - , colspan=2 , Best Trailer , , - , rowspan=5 ,

29th Goya Awards The 29th Goya Awards were presented at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel in Madrid on February 7, 2015 to honour the best in Spanish films of 2014. Actor and comedian Dani Rovira was the master of ceremonies. Nominees were announced on January ...

, Best Supporting Actor ,

, , rowspan = 5 , , - , Best Supporting Actress ,

, , - , Best New Actor ,

, , - , Best Cinematography , Kalo Berridi , , - , Best Original Song , "No te marches jamás" by Fernando Velázquez , , - , rowspan = "3" , 24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards , , Best Film Actress in a Leading Role , , Clara Lago , , , , rowspan = "3" , , - , Best Film Actress in a Secondary Role , , Carmen Machi , , , - , Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role , , Karra Elejalde , ,

Sequel

A sequel, ''

Ocho apellidos catalanes ''Spanish Affair 2'' ( es, Ocho apellidos catalanes, links=no; ) is a 2015 Spanish comedy film directed by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro. It is the sequel to the 2014 box-office hit '' Spanish Affair'', with the four main actors reprising their charact ...

'' ( en, Eight Catalan Surnames) was released on 20 November 2015.

repeated as director and

Borja Cobeaga Borja Cobeaga Eguillor (born 1977) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academ ...

and Diego San José repeated as screenwriters. The original cast was joined by

Berto Romero Alberto Romero Tomás (born 17 November 1974), better known as Berto Romero, is a Spanish comedian. Biography Berto Romero was born in Cardona (Catalonia, Spain). He is a member of theatre company ''El Cansancio'', a broadcaster on Ràdio F ...

, Rosa Maria Sardà and Belén Cuesta.

Informational notes

References

{{reflist 2014 films Spanish comedy films 2014 comedy films Films produced by Álvaro Augustin Films produced by Ghislain Barrois Films produced by Javier Ugarte Films set in the Basque County Kowalski Films films 2010s Spanish films 2010s Spanish-language films