''The Laws of Thermodynamics'' ( es, link=no, Las leyes de la termodinámica) is a 2018 Spanish

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed and written by

Mateo Gil Mateo Gil Rodríguez (born 23 September 1972, Las Palmas, Spain) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, second unit director, assistant director, cinematographer, editor and producer. He co-wrote most of Alejandro Amenábar's films with him, ...

. The film is a romantic comedy, but is presented partially as a documentary with protagonist "physics geek" Manel attempting to explain the characters behaviour and emotion using the laws.

Cast

* Vito Sanz as Manel * Berta Vázquez as Elena *

Chino Darín Ricardo Mario Darín (born 14 January 1989), known professionally as Chino Darín, is an Argentine actor and film producer. Early life Ricardo Mario Darín was born on 14 January 1989 in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, to a ...

as Pablo *

Vicky Luengo Vicky Luengo (born 7 April 1990) is a Spanish film, television and stage actress. Biography She was born on 7 April 1990 in Palma de Mallorca, but after fours years she moved with her mother and brother to Barcelona, where she was raised. She ...

as Eva *

Irene Escolar Irene Escolar Navarro (born 19 October 1988) is a Spanish cinema, theatre, and television actress. Escolar received a Goya Award for Best New Actress The Goya Award for Best New Actress ( es, Premio Goya a la mejor actriz revelación, links=no ...

as Raquel *

Josep Maria Pou Josep Maria Pou i Serra (born 1944 in Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona) is a Catalan Spanish film, theatre and television actor. He studied drama in Madrid and made his debut in Teatro María Guerrero (1970) Cinema *2018 '' The Realm'' *2017 ' ...

as Profesor Amat * Andrea Ros as Alba *

Daniel Sánchez Arévalo Daniel Sánchez Arévalo (born 24 June 1970) is a Spanish screenwriter and film director. He has worked on more than twenty films since 1995. Filmography Film Short film Television References External links * 1970 births Living ...

as Daniel Sánchez Arévalo * Alicia Medina as Modelo Anuncio * Marta Aguilar as Chica Orgullo * José Javier Domínguez as Camarero * Txell Aixendri as Enfermera * Carlos Olalla as Psicólogo

Production

''The Laws of Thermodynamics'' was produced by Zeta Cinema,

Atresmedia Cine Atresmedia Cine (formerly Ensueño Films and Antena 3 Films) is the studio belonging to Grupo Atresmedia responsible for producing films. It was created in 2000. History The film production company was created after the enacting of the Spanish ...

, and On Cinema 2017 and it had the participation of

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Televisió de Catalunya Televisió de Catalunya (, known by the acronym TVC) is the public broadcasting network of Catalonia, one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, a public corporation cre ...

Atresmedia Atresmedia Corporación de Medios de Comunicación, S.A., previously Grupo Antena 3, is a Spanish media group, present in the television, radio and filmmaking industries. Significant shareholders include Grupo Planeta and Bertelsmann. On 6 Marc ...

, ICAA and ICEC.

Release

Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia, it was theatrically released in Spain on April 20, 2018. It was released on August 31, 2018 on Netflix streaming in certain regions.

Critical reception

The film has received mixed reviews, and holds a 46% approval rating on

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 ...

, and a score of 45 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Critics tended to praise its original concept, but criticized the characterization and romantic plotting as shallow, with the LA Times complaining that "Gil’s overly clever notion wears out its welcome" and "Manel and Elena are wispily drawn characters with predictable arcs". Variety was more positive, calling it a "fizzing, restless, wholly singular fusion of physics lecture and romcom" stating also that "The love story and the academic treatise gradually impinge on each other more than they inform each other". The Hollywood Reporter likewise stated "Though it is intermittently witty, visually playful and laudable in its attempt to appeal to both head and heart, ''Laws'' abandons its characters to its big concept".

References

External links