''Uncertain Glory'' ( ca, Incerta glòria, links=no) is a 2017 Spanish drama film directed by

Agustí Villaronga Agustí Villaronga Riutort (; 4 March 1953 – 22 January 2023) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed several feature films, a documentary, three projects for television and three shorts. His film '' Moon Child'' was ...

based on the eponymous novel by Joan Sales. Shot in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

, its cast is led by Marcel Borràs, Núria Prims, Oriol Pla and

Bruna Cusí Bruna Cusí Echaniz (born 9 September 1986) is a Spanish actress, winner of Goya Award for Best New Actress The Goya Award for Best New Actress ( es, Premio Goya a la mejor actriz revelación, links=no) is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's prin ...

Plot

Set in 1937, with the backdrop of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, a young Republican officer becomes infatuated with a mysterious widow.

Cast

Production

Based on the eponymous novel by Joan Sales, ''Uncertain Glory'' was written by the director

alongside Coral Cruz.

Isona Passola Isona Passola i Vidal is a film producer, screenwriter and director from Barcelona. She is the current president of the Catalan Film Academy The Catalan Film Academy (''Acadèmia del Cinema Català'', in Catalan) is a non-profit organization ...

took over production duties. It was produced by Massa D'or Produccions and

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 c ...

(TVC) with the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

Movistar+ Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television ( Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar ...

and

Aragón TV Aragón TV is a radio and television network in Aragon, named CARTV−''Corporación Aragonesa de Radio y Televisión''. It is state media, owned by ''Televisión Autonómica de Aragón S.A.'' It is part of the Spanish government's FORTA media n ...

and support from and ICAA. It was shot in 2016. Filming primarily took place in Aragon, as well as

La Garriga La Garriga is a municipality in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' national ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Release

Distributed by Alfa Pictures, the film was theatrically released on 17 March 2017.

Reception

Quim Casas of ''

El Periódico de Catalunya ''El Periódico de Catalunya'' (, ), also simply known as ''El Periódico'', is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The paper publishes separate daily editions in Spanish and in Catalan. The two editions combined sel ...

'' rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars, considering that Villaronga "splendidly directs" the cast, Núria Prims in particular. He deemed the war setting to have a secondary role in the plot, just as a device to switch everything else on: "a trail of conflicting feelings, affective hostilities, devastating sexual impulses, delusions, hatreds and quarrels, the seed of evil in its purest form". Reviewing for ''

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 ...

'', Pere Vall gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, deeming Oriol Pla's emotional performance to be the best about the film while noting as a negative point that the plot featured some trip to Barcelona that could have dealt with as an

ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

. Toni Vall of ''

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) ...

'' scored 4 out of 5 stars, considering that the story tracking the five main characters "manages to transcend the purely historical sketch, taking possession of their souls, dissecting them and injecting cinema into them". Javier Ocaña of '' El País'' deemed ''Uncertain Glory'' to be an "unquestionable" heir to ''

Pa negre Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from whea ...

'', a "fantastic production set in the rearguard of the Civil War", praising, in addition of Villaronga's craft, the cinematography, the production design, the "very risky" score and the cast.

Awards and nominations

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "20" , 2018 , , rowspan = "2" ,

5th Feroz Awards The 5th award ceremony of the Feroz Awards was held at Polideportivo Antonio Magariños, in Madrid, on January 22, 2018. It was hosted by Julián López and aired on #0. Winners and nominees The nominees were announced on December 5, 2017. The c ...

, , Best Actress (film) , , Núria Prims , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Supporting Actor (film) , , Oriol Pla , , , - , rowspan = "16" , 10th Gaudí Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Film , , , , rowspan = "16" , , - , Best Direction , , Agustí Villaronga , , , - , Best Leading Actress , , Núria Prims , , , - , Best Leading Actor , , Marcel Borràs , , , - , Best Supporting Actress , , Bruna Cusí , , , - , Best Supporting Actor , , Oriol Pla , , , - , Best Screenplay , , , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Aleix Castellón , , , - , Best Art Direction , , , , , - , Best Editing , , , , , - , Best Original Score , , , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Josep M. Civit , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Mercè Paloma , , , - , Best Sound , , Xavier Mas, Fernando Novillo & Ricard Galceran , , , - , Best Visual Effects , , Manuel López Egea & Bernat Aragonés , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , Alma Casal , , , - ,

32nd Goya Awards The 32nd Goya Awards were presented at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel in Madrid on 3 February 2018, to honour the best in Spanish films of 2017. Joaquín Reyes (actor), Joaquín Reyes and Ernesto Sevilla hosted the awards ceremony. Nominat ...

, , Best Adapted Screenplay , , Agustí Villaronga & Coral Cruz , , , , , - ,

27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards The 27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards were held on 12 March 2018 at the Circo Price in Madrid. The gala was hosted by . The nominations were announced on 13 February 2018. In addition to the competitive awards, (CIMA) received the '' award ...

, , Best Film Actor in a Minor Role , , Jorge Usón , , , ,

References

External links

''Uncertain Glory''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' {{Agustí Villaronga 2017 films 2010s Catalan-language films Spanish drama films Spanish Civil War films Films shot in Spain Films set in 1937 Films set in Spain Films based on Spanish novels 2010s Spanish films Films directed by Agustí Villaronga