Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
,
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
and
producer.
Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member of the
Barcelona School of Film
The Barcelona School of Film was a 1960s group of Catalan filmmakers, concerned with the disruption of daily life by the unexpected, whose stylistic affinities lie with the pop art movement of the same years.
Overview
Their aim was to move away ...
and became known for bringing contemporary Spanish novels to life on the big screen. Aranda was also noted for exploring difficult social issues and variations on the theme of desire while using the codes of melodrama.
Love as uncontrollable passion, eroticism and cruelty are constant themes in his filmography. The frank examination of sexuality is one of the trademarks of his work, as seen in his most internationally successful film: ''
Amantes'' (1990) ''(Lovers)''.
Early life
Vicente Aranda Ezquerra was born in
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 ...
on 9 November 1926.
[Vera, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 13] He was the youngest son in a large and impoverished family who had emigrated from
Aragón
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sout ...
to Barcelona twenty years before he was born.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 14] He barely knew his father, an itinerant photographer, who died when the child was only seven years old. 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, lin ...
, in which his family took the side of the losing Republicans, marked his childhood.
Thinking that the war was going to be more bearable in a small town than in Barcelona, the family moved early in the war to
Peñalba
Peñalba ( an, Penyalba) is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given ...
, his mother's native village. The dire situation there, close to the front at Aragon, forced them to return to Barcelona in 1938.
[Stone, ''Spanish Cinema'', p. 115]
After the war ended, Aranda spent a lot of time in the local movie theatre, much against the wishes of his mother, who took to smelling him on his return for traces of the disinfectant that was sprayed in cinemas of the time.
[Stone, ''Spanish Cinema'', p. 114] He never finished his formal studies. At age thirteen, he began to work in order to help support his family.
He had a number of different jobs in his home town, trying a multitude of trades before following his brother Palmiro to
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
in 1952.
He emigrated for economical and political reasons.
In Venezuela, Aranda worked as a cargo technician for an American shipping business. Later he directed programs at
NCR.
[Torres, ''Diccionario del cine Español'', p. 80] After seven years, he returned to
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 ...
in 1959.
Wealthy and married upon his return, he intended to become a novelist, but found that he lacked enough talent as a writer. He fell in with the cultural elite of
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
and was encouraged to try his hand at filmmaking. He was not allowed to enroll at the School of Cinema 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 ...
because he had not graduated from high school.
In Barcelona and completely self-taught, Aranda found a way to direct his first feature film.
Nearly 40 years old when he started directing, Aranda did not gain international success until his 60s. He had a long and prolific career, making 27 films in more than 40 years as a director.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 11]
Vicente Aranda married twice. His first wife, Luisa, a name he used repeatedly for the female leads in his films, committed suicide years after they divorced. They did not have children. Aranda's second wife, Teresa Font, was thirty years his junior. She was the editor of his movies since the mid-1980s; they had two daughters together, but separated a few years before Aranda's death.
Film career and later life
Early films (1964–1974)
Aranda made his directorial debut with the low-budget ''
Brillante Porvenir
''Promising Future'' ( es, Brillante Porvenir) is a 1965 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda and Román Gubern. Set in Neorealism style, the plot was inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby.Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vi ...
'' (1964) (''Promising Future''), co-directing with screenwriter Román Gubern to avoid problems with the directors guild of Spain.
Loosely inspired by the American novel, ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...
,'' the film used the aesthetic of the
neorealism in a story of a young man from the provinces who tries to make it into the Catalan middle class.
''
Brillante Porvenir
''Promising Future'' ( es, Brillante Porvenir) is a 1965 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda and Román Gubern. Set in Neorealism style, the plot was inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby.Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vi ...
'', cut by censors, was received coldly by public and critics. This failure made Aranda turned to an experimental form of film making for his next project.
The director's second film, ''
Fata Morgana'' (1965), an unusual work in
Spanish Cinema
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
, is an experimental film, based on a script written with
Gonzalo Suárez. The film took inspiration for its graphic visual style from television commercials and comic strips.
[D'Lugo, ''Guide to the Cinema of Spain'', p. 119] Ignored upon release, ''
Fata Morgana'' would eventually be recognized for inspiring the particular kitsch aesthetic of La Escuela de Barcelona (the Barcelona School of Film),
an
avant garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical De ...
movement which sought creative innovation in Spanish films.
In the following years, Aranda's work played between pushing the artistic envelope and using a virtual style drawn from mass media. In these films, Aranda tackled established film genres with an eye on revising and modernizing them.
Since his first features were not widely seen, Aranda produced a commercially oriented film with fantastic and erotic overtones: ''Las Crueles'' (1969) (''
The Exquisite Cadaver
''The Exquisite Cadaver'' ( es, Las Crueles) AKA: ''The Cruel Ones'' is a 1969 Spanish film noir psychological thriller film directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the short story ''Bailando Para Parker'' written by Gonzalo Suárez.Torres, ''Diccion ...
''). In it, a mysterious woman elaborates a scheme to avenge the death of her girlfriend by a callous publisher. This filmed was plagued with a series of problems: it was long in the making; Aranda suffered an accident during the shooting, which forced him to work from a stretcher, and finally he had a legal battle with the producers.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 54] It would take Aranda many years to recover ownership of this film. The experience made him found his own production company: Morgana Film, which produced his next six features.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 55]
In ''
La Novia Ensangrentada
''The Blood Spattered Bride'' ( es, La novia ensangrentada, links=no) is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the 1872 vampire novella '' Carmilla'' by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It stars Simón Andreu, Maribe ...
'' (1972) (''The Blood Spattered Bride)'', a loose adaptation of ''Carmilla'', a lesbian vampire recruits a young bride to help her seek revenge against all men. A genre film for the cultural elite, it evaded censors by virtue of its incomprehensibility. By Aranda's own admission, he sacrificed conventional coherence for the cinematographic and phenomenological possibilities of each action.
The film was distributed internationally in the United States, France and Italy.
Aranda started to use the codes of melodrama with ''
Clara es el Precio
''Clara is the Price'' ( es, Clara es el precio) is a 1975 in film, 1975 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda. It stars Amparo Muñoz, Máximo Valverde and Juan Luis Galiardo. It was shot in Cadaques, Empuriabrava (Girona), Ebro Delta, Delta de ...
'' (1974) (''Clara is the Price''), an offbeat mix of melodrama, parody and surreal comedy. He cast
Amparo Muñoz
Amparo Muñoz Quesada (Vélez-Málaga, 21 June 1954 – Málaga, 27 February 2011) was a Spanish actress, model and beauty queen who won the Miss Universe 1974 competition in Manila, Philippines, being the first and only Spaniard titleholder in ...
, Spain's future
Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...
, as a naive housewife adrift in a world without taboo. She pursues a career as a pornographic film actress in order to fund a business project for her impotent husband.
This was made during ''El Destape'', a period in Spanish Cinema that had a proliferation of
nudity in film
In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scene ...
under the new social liberties during the political period following the fall of Franco's regime. The ''Clara'' film's effort to shock was also its purpose.
Like the
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 ...
s, Aranda's ability to shock was itself a political statement. "We had lived in a state of consensus and this is fatal for cinema", he complained, "We have become our own censors and all we want to do is forget, be silent, not speak."
''Cambio de Sexo'' (1976)
Following the fall of Franco's regime, social censorship was lifted. Under the new permissiveness, Aranda shot more daring films such as ''
Cambio de Sexo
''Change of Sex'' or ''Sex Change'' ( es, Cambio de Sexo) is a 1976 Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda. It stars Victoria Abril as José Maria. The film dramatizes the story of a young feminine boy, who moves to the city to expl ...
'' (1976) (''Sex Change''), skillfully tackling the subject of
transsexuality
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignment ...
, and using it as an embodiment of the contemporary political transition. This film marks a switch in Aranda's filmography.
He began to use a more realistic style rather than the stylish aesthetics prominent in his early films.
[Mira, ''Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema'', p. 21] ''Cambio de Sexo'' also marks the beginning of his long collaboration with
Victoria Abril
Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by ...
, who became his favorite actress.
Over the next three decades, director and star worked together in a dozen films that would include major artistic triumphs for both. ''Cambio de Sexo'' dramatizes the development of the ''destape'' – the period in the late 1970s and early 1980s Spain characterized by a much more open portrayal of sex in the press, literature and film.
''Cambio de Sexo'' recounts the story of a young effeminate boy, played by Victoria Abril, who lives in the outskirts of Barcelona and escapes to the city to explore his desire to become a woman. The character of the young man is an embodiment of the changes in Spain, with political extremes of uncompromising orthodoxy and unrestrained anarchy. ''
Cambio de Sexo
''Change of Sex'' or ''Sex Change'' ( es, Cambio de Sexo) is a 1976 Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda. It stars Victoria Abril as José Maria. The film dramatizes the story of a young feminine boy, who moves to the city to expl ...
'' lured audiences with its controversial theme, and it was released to critical acclaim.
''La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro'' (1980)
Sexuality and the past, key themes in Aranda's work, are at the center of ''
La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro
''The Girl with the Golden Panties'' ( es, La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro) is a 1980 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda and released through Morgana Films. It stars Victoria Abril and Lautaro Murúa. The plot follows a middle-aged writer as ...
'' (1980) (''Girl with the Golden Panties'').
This was an adaptation of a popular novel by his fellow Catalan
Juan Marsé
Juan Marsé Carbó (8 January 1933 – 18 July 2020) was a Spanish novelist, journalist, and screenwriter who used Spanish as his literary language. In 2008, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, "the Spanish-language equivalent" to the Nobel ...
, in which Aranda displayed a more mature style.
A Falangist character is writing his memoirs and shapes his past to the new democratic realities. His world of lies falls apart when he is confronted by his carefree niece, who playfully starts a game of seduction.
Always interested in literature, over the next fifteen years, Aranda became Spain's foremost adapter of popular contemporary novels into film.
His films have been adapted from short narratives to novels, as well as biographies. His choices usually were guided by the centrality of an erotically defined female character, and a contemporary story emphasizing the force of the milieu on the shaping of actions.
For Aranda, adapting a literary work did not involve complications of faithfulness, or lack of the same, to the original text. For him the novel was a raw material with which to create new forms: " As for adaptations, I feel very comfortable doing them. I don't have a problem with authorship. I don't think I am more of an author if I write a screenplay of something I've read on the newspapers or seen on the street that if I take a novel and make a movie based on its contents".
''Asesinato en el Comité Central'' (1982)
After democracy was installed in Spain, Aranda made a film politically charged with the aftereffects of Franco's regime: ''
Asesinato en el Comité Central'' (1982) (''Murder in the Central Committee''). In this
thriller, a power cut interrupts the proceedings of the Communist Congress. When the lights come back on, the leader is found dead, murdered. The film was based on one of a series of novels by
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (14 June 1939–18 October 2003) was a prolific Spanish writer from Catalonia: journalist, novelist, poet, essayist, anthologue, prologist, humorist, critic and political prisoner as well as a gastronome and a FC ...
that featured a hard-boiled detective called
Pepe Carvalho
Pepe Carvalho is a fictional private detective, the protagonist of a series of novels written by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.
The character
Carvalho has a rich, complex and contradictory personality. The author uses his adventures to describe, ...
.
[Stone, ''Spanish Cinema'', p. 119] The intrigue runs a poor second to Aranda's commentary on the
Spanish transition to democracy
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
.
" The truth is that I cannot think of another film that deals with this fascinating period', he stated, there is a kind of collective amnesia about the time".
[Alvarez & Frías, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 130]
Much of the film's action is filtered through headlines and television reports in imitation of the way in which the Spanish public lived the transition.
The televised funeral of the Communist leader is a sly montage of mourners at the funeral of
Franco
Franco may refer to:
Name
* Franco (name)
* Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975
* Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître"
Prefix
* Franco, a prefix used when ref ...
.
La Pasionaria
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
(the legendary Spanish Communist leader who lived in exile in the Soviet Union during much of the dictatorship) is portrayed as a senile old dear who sits next to the victim but does not realize he is dead. Like ''
La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro
''The Girl with the Golden Panties'' ( es, La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro) is a 1980 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda and released through Morgana Films. It stars Victoria Abril and Lautaro Murúa. The plot follows a middle-aged writer as ...
'', this was a film about extremist coming together in a democracy, in this case in order to solve a crime.
Whodunnit ? it does not matter. As the interior minister exclaims: "In the same way that we've had to forget everything, you should do the same."
This was Aranda's first work to be shot in Madrid instead of his native Barcelona. The film was not successful commercially.
''Fanny Pelopaja'' (1984)
Aranda adapted the popular Catalan author Andreu Martín's
noir detective novel
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
, ''Prótesis.'' He changed the male protagonist into a female and titled his film, ''
Fanny Pelopaja
''Fanny Straw Hair''Thomas, Kevin.Saura's Real-life 'Bandit' Returns" ''Los Angeles Times''. August 11, 1986. Retrieved on July 28, 2013. " Saturday brings the silly, overbaked melodrama of crime and passion "Fanny Straw Hair" (1984) .. ( es, ...
'' (1984).
The film depicts a violent love-hate relationship between a delinquent woman and a corrupt police officer, with whom she wants to get even.
Co-financed by French producers, the film was made in Barcelona with Spanish supporting cast and crew, and with two French actors in the lead. Dissatisfied with the French dubbing of the film, done without his oversight, Aranda tried to stop the premiere of the film in France. It was released under the title, ''Á coups de crosse''. As a result of this dispute, Aranda sold the film's shares in Morgana Films, the production company he had created.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 59] ''Fanny Pelopaja'' failed to find an audience when first released, but now has become one of Aranda's best regarded works.
''El Crimen del Capitán Sánchez'' (1984)
Needing to make some money, Aranda accepted a job to take part in ''La Huella del Crimen'' (''The Trace of the Crime''), a television series consisting of six episodes depicting infamous crimes in Spain. He was one of several renowned Spanish film directors:
Pedro Olea
Pedro Olea (30 June 1938, Bilbao) is a Spanish screenwriter, film producer and film director. His 1984 film '' Akelarre'' was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.
Selected directorial filmography
* ''Días de viejo color' ...
,
Angelino Fons
Angelino Fons Fernández (6 March 1936 – 7 June 2011), was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He is known for his debut film '' La busca'' (''The Search'') (1966). His career was closely linked to literature, adapting classic Spanish n ...
,
Ricardo Franco
Ricardo Franco (24 May 1949 in Madrid – 20 May 1998 in Madrid) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director.
Biography
Nephew of Jesús Franco. He died at 49 years old when he filmed '' Lágrimas negras''.
He wrote lyrics for pop songs ...
,
Juan Antonio Bardem
Juan Antonio Bardem Muñoz (2 June 1922 – 30 October 2002) was a Spanish film director and screen writer, born in Madrid. He was a member of the Communist Party. Bardem was best known for ''Muerte de un ciclista'' (1955) which won the FIPRES ...
,
Pedro Costa
Pedro Costa (born 30 December 1958) is a Portuguese film director. He is best known for his sequence of films set in Lisbon, which focuses on the lives of the impoverished residents of a slum in the Fontainhas neighbourhood.
Biography
After com ...
and Vicente Aranda, who were each invited to direct an episode.
[Vera, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 152]
Aranda's chapter, ''
El Crimen del Capitán Sánchez'' (1984) (Captain Sánchez's Crime), was considered the best episode of the series.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 66] Made in
16 mm
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...
and with a very low budget,
the one-hour film tells a story in which incest, jealousy and death mix in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. The title character is a military officer, who supports his poor family and pays his gambling debts by plotting an elaborate trap to swindle money from those who fall for the charms of his pretty eldest daughter.
''Tiempo de Silencio'' (1986)
Aranda's career began to soar when he made ''
Tiempo de Silencio
'' Tiempo de Silencio'' ( en, Time of Silence) is a 1986 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda adapted from a well-regarded novel written by Luis Martín-Santos. It stars Imanol Arias, Victoria Abril and Francisco Rabal.Schwartz, ''The Great S ...
'' (1986) (''Time of Silence''), an adaptation of the famed
Luis Martín Santos novel of the same name.
The film had a major cast headed by
Imanol Arias
Manuel María Arias Domínguez (born 26 April 1956 in Riaño, León, Spain) better known as Imanol Arias, is a Spanish actor and film director.
Career
Imanol Arias began his career with a travelling theatre group performing in the Basque C ...
,
Victoria Abril
Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by ...
and
Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal Valera (8 March 1926 – 29 August 2001), better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter born in Águilas, a town in the south-western part of the province of Murcia, Spain. Throughout his career, Raba ...
. Set in the 1940s in the early days of Franco's regime, the plot tells of an ambitious doctor who is accused of killing a woman. But he had tried to save her life after a botched
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
, which was then illegal. The story moves from the sordid lives of the poor in shanty dwellings to the hypocrisy of the middle classes under Franco's regime. Aranda used themes of sexuality to explore political and historical issues.
Though the film was criticized by some for his simplifying the narrative complexity of the Martín Santos novel, ''Time of Silence'' was generally well received by audiences.
''El Lute'' (1987)
Aranda took a deconstructive approach to the manipulation of popular myth in his two-part biopic: ''
El Lute: camina o revienta'' (1987) (''El Lute, Run for Your Life''), and ''
El Lute II, mañana seré libre
''El Lute II: Tomorrow I'll be Free'' ( es, El Lute II: mañana seré libre) is a 1988 Spanish film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the memoirs of Eleuterio Sánchez, “El Lute”, a delinquent who became notorious in Spain for hi ...
'' (1988) (''El Lute Tomorrow I'll be Free''), based on two volumes of memoirs by the legendary criminal
Eleuterio Sánchez
Eleuterio Sánchez Rodríguez (born 15 April 1942), known as El Lute, was at one time listed as Spain's "Most Wanted" criminal and later became a published writer. He was a legendary Spanish outlaw who escaped several times from prison after bei ...
, who had escaped from prison several times.
[Morgan, ''Contemporary Spanish Cinema'', p. 26] ''
El Lute: camina o revienta'' (1987) (''El Lute, Run for Your Life'') concerns the early life of Sanchez, known as ''El Lute'', who claimed to have been forced into delinquency in the 1960s by poverty and lack of education. After an early nomadic period of his life, ''El Lute'' moves to Madrid's slums outskirts. He became involved in a robbery and murder; was convicted and, at age 23, lucky to gain a commutation of his death sentence to 30 years in prison. His escapes from jail turned him into a popular folk hero and public enemy number one for the Franco police.
Aranda's hybrid combination of period drama, thriller and social realism reveals how the criminal career and media profile of this petty thief were manipulated and exploited by the authorities as a diversionary tactic at a time of political unrest.
''
El Lute: camina o revienta'' (1987) (''El Lute, Run for Your Life'') was one of Aranda's most successful adaptations. It was the highest-grossing Spanish film in 1987.
''El Lute II, mañana seré libre'' (1988)
In the second part: ''
El Lute II, mañana seré libre
''El Lute II: Tomorrow I'll be Free'' ( es, El Lute II: mañana seré libre) is a 1988 Spanish film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the memoirs of Eleuterio Sánchez, “El Lute”, a delinquent who became notorious in Spain for hi ...
'' (1988) (''El Lute: Tomorrow I'll be Free''), El Lute as a fugitive became reunited with his siblings. He tries to start a new life, but fails to fit in as a normal member of society. Following his escape from prison, El Lute becomes the focus of an obsessive pursuit by the Francoist authorities. He was the object of massive popular interest by the press and public in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Compared to Aranda's strongly realistic and political tone in the first installment, in ''
El Lute II, mañana seré libre
''El Lute II: Tomorrow I'll be Free'' ( es, El Lute II: mañana seré libre) is a 1988 Spanish film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the memoirs of Eleuterio Sánchez, “El Lute”, a delinquent who became notorious in Spain for hi ...
,'' he took a more fictionalized, folkloric approach, adopting a more pronounced thriller style.
[Morgan, ''Contemporary Spanish Cinema'', p. 27] Featuring violence and eroticism, the film delivered a resounding critique of the Franco regime and its brutal treatment of the Spanish
merchero
Quinqui jargon is associated with '' quincalleros'' (tinkers), a semi-nomadic group who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called ''mercheros''. They are reduced in number and possibly vanishing as a distinct group.
T ...
and
gitano populations.
''Si te dicen que caí'' (1989)
Aranda made his most sexually explicit film with ''
Si te dicen que caí'' (1989) (''If They Tell You I Fell''), adapted from the novel of the same name by
Juan Marsé
Juan Marsé Carbó (8 January 1933 – 18 July 2020) was a Spanish novelist, journalist, and screenwriter who used Spanish as his literary language. In 2008, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, "the Spanish-language equivalent" to the Nobel ...
.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 184] With a labyrinthine structure in which imaginary facts and real events are blended in a crosswords style, the main part of the story is set in the old quarter of 1940s Barcelona during the early years of Francoist repression. The plot features a young man who, trying to survive in the aftermath of the Civil War, is hired to perform sexual acts with a prostitute; they are to be viewed by a rich
falangist
Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...
rendered crippled during the war. With a large cast, including
Victoria Abril
Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by ...
playing three different characters, the film was daring and ambitious in its scope.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 188]
''Los Jinetes del Alba'' (1990)
At the request of
Pilar Miró
Pilar Mercedes Miró Romero (20 April 1940 in Madrid – 19 October 1997 in Madrid) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director. She was the General Director of RTVE from 1986 to 1989. In the 1990s, she directed the television broadcasts of th ...
, then director of
TVE, Aranda took on ''
Los Jinetes del Alba
Riders of the Dawn ( es, Los Jinetes del Alba) is a 1990 Spain, Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda, an adaptation of a novel by Jesús Fernández Santos. It stars Victoria Abril and Jorge Sanz.
Made as five-episode television ...
'' (1990) (''Riders of the Dawn'') an adaptation of the novel by
Jesús Fernández Santos
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet.
Jesus may also refer to:
People
Religious figures
* Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Act ...
about 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, lin ...
and the
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
movement.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 191]
Made as a five-part TV miniseries, it features a young woman ambitious to own the resort where she works in a small town in
Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...
. When she finally achieves her goal, there is little to rejoice about. Aranda's favorite topics: cruelty, violence and sex pervade this story framed by the tumultuous life of Spain in the 1930s, the uprising in Asturias in 1934, and the Spanish Civil War.
This is one Aranda's most paradigmatic works.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 200]
''Amantes'' (1991)
In the 1990s, Aranda continued to make films that were commercial hits at home and were shown at film festivals worldwide. With ''
Amantes'' (1991) (''Lovers''), he finally achieved wide international exposure and critical acclaim. This tragic story of forbidden passions and betrayed innocence is a
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
, inspired by real events. In the repressive Spain during the early 1950s, a young man just out of military service is torn between his attraction for the two opposite women who love him: his girlfriend, a naïve maid and his landlady, an attractive, scheming widow.
Originally conceived as a television project, ''Amantes'' was made with few actors, a small crew, and with few exterior locations.
[Colmena, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 202] It is widely considered as the director's most accomplished work, becoming a classic of
Spanish Cinema
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
.
[Benavent, ''Cine Español de los Noventa'', p. 62] It marked the beginning of Aranda's most prolific period.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 69]
''El Amante Bilingüe'' (1993)
Still exploring the passion of love, Aranda directed ''
El Amante Bilingüe
''The Bilingual Lover'' ( es, El Amante Bilingüe) is a 1993 Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda and adapted from a novel by Juan Marsé. The film stars Imanol Arias, Ornella Muti and Loles León. The film is a grotesque drama, wi ...
'' (1993) (''The Bilingual Lover''), an adaptation of a story by Juan Marsé. Set in Barcelona, this ironic film mixes
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 ...
linguistic policies,
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and
eroticism
Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...
with a pattern of double identity. The central character is a humble man who falls in love with a beautiful rich woman; they marry but his unfaithful wife abandons him later. After being horribly disfigured in an explosion, he gradually adopts a new personal identity in an effort to lure back his spoiled ex-wife.
''Intruso'' (1993)
Some of Vicente Aranda films present real events, things that happen on the street but that have had the appearance of the exceptional occurrences, where passion, toughness, and violence manage to acquire a tone of unreality that is almost literary. In ''
Intruso'' (1993) (''Intruder''), Aranda takes the theme of the relationship between love and death through a passionate love to its ultimate conclusion.
[Torres, ''Diccionario del cine Español'', p. 81] This film is a psychological thriller with his characteristic visual atmosphere and exacerbated passions.
[Perriam, '' Stars and Masculanities'', p. 31] A middle-class woman is torn between her love for her spouse and her ill ex-husband, both of whom were her childhood friends. After ten years of separation, they become entangled in a tragic story.
''La Pasión Turca'' (1994)
Aranda's films feature a woman as the protagonist and the center around which the story turns.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 30] ''
La Pasión Turca
''The Turkish Passion'' ( es, La pasión turca, link=no) is a 1994 Spain, Spanish erotic film, erotic drama film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda adapted from a popular novel by Antonio Gala. It stars Ana Belén and Georges Corraface. The fi ...
'' (1994) (''Turkish Passion''), an adaptation of a novel by
Antonio Gala
Antonio Gala Velasco (born 2 October 1930) is a Spanish poet, playwright, novelist and writer.
Life and career
Gala was born in Brazatortas, Ciudad Real ( Castile-La Mancha), although he moved very soon to Córdoba and is widely considered an ...
, explores female sexual desire. A bored housewife from a well-to-do family, decides to risk everything by leaving her husband to return to a lover met while on holiday in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. Her pursuit of sexual pleasure leads her to an obsessive dependence, degradation, and total collapse of her
self esteem
Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) d ...
.
[Jordan & Morgan, ''Contemporary Spanish Cinema'', p. 170] ''La Pasión Turca'' became one of Spain's highest-grossing films of the 1990s.
''Libertarias'' (1996)
Aranda returned to the Spanish Civil War in ''
Libertarias
''Libertarias'' (English: ''Libertarians'') is a Spanish historical drama made in 1996. It was written and directed by Vicente Aranda.
In 1936, Maria (Ariadna Gil), a young nun is recruited by Pilar (Ana Belén), a militant feminist, into an a ...
'' (1996) (''Libertarians''), an epic drama with an ensemble cast that reconstructs the role played by anarchist women during 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, lin ...
.
[Mira, ''Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema'', p. 22] It is set in Barcelona at the start of the war, where a young naive nun flees her convent and seeks refuge in a brothel. There she and the prostitutes are recruited to the anarchist cause. Together, a group of six women (
Mujeres Libres or Free Women) face the perils of war but their idealistic dreams are brutally crushed.
''La Mirada del Otro'' (1998)
''
La Mirada del Otro'' (1998) (''The Naked Eye''), based on a novel by
Fernando G. Delgado
Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...
, is an erotic
psychodrama
Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives.
Developed by Jacob L. Moreno and ...
. Aranda features a woman in her 30s embarks on a quest for sexual pleasure which only brings her loneliness. In this case, the public and critics felt that the plot was sordid to the extent that it overwhelmed the credibility of the characters; it did not do well.
[Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 74]
''Celos'' (1999)
Aranda returned to familiar territory with ''
Celos'' (1999) (''Jealousy''), his third work in a trilogy exploring the love triangle, together with his earlier ''
Amantes'' and ''
Intruso''. He created a story about destructive passions that lead to tragedy. A truck driver is tormented by jealousy about the man who was the former boyfriend of his beautiful fiancée. The driver tris to find the man and learn more about their previous relationship.
"Jealousy is at the center of stories of passion", Aranda explained. "To suffer with relish, there is nothing better than uncertainty. A good story demands that audiences share the same doubts than the main characters in the story: whether there is or is not a betrayal. There is always some else lurking and we also know that crime is among us even if it exists albeit only at the bottom of our hearts".
''Juana la Loca'' (2001)
In the early 21st century, Aranda started to explore period pieces, initiating a trilogy of historic costume dramas with ''
Juana La Loca
Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...
'' (2001) (''Mad Love''), a reinterpretation of the tragic fate of the 15th-century Spanish queen,
Joanna of Castile
Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...
. At a time when royal marriages were made to secure political alliances, she fell madly in love with her husband and suffered from his infidelity. A commercial and critical hit in Spain, the film was the nation's official entry at the 2001
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Foreign Language Film. It became Aranda's biggest box-office movie.
''Carmen'' (2003)
Desire and betrayal, themes that have been recurrent in Aranda's career,
are central to the plot of ''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
'' (2003), a film based on
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...
's 1845 novella about jealousy and passion. (This had also inspired the opera of the
same name composed by
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...
. Set in
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, 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 ...
in 1830, a military officer is seduced by a striking gypsy girl who works in a cigarette factory. His love for her brings his downfall. The film was made with high production values and it was another success with audiences for the veteran director.
''Tirant lo Blanc'' (2006)
Aranda completed his costume drama trilogy with ''
Tirant lo Blanc
''Tirant lo Blanch'' ( ; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc'') is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an ...
'' (2006) (The Maidens' Conspiracy), an adaptation of a seminal Catalan
chivalry
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...
novel, written in the 15th century by
Joanot Martorell
Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel ''Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the l ...
. The plot follows the adventures of Tirante, a knight from humble origins in the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, who gains the favor of the ailing Emperor by his triumphs in fighting the incursion into
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
by the Turks. Tirante later seduces the royal family's only surviving child, a young, fanciful, and impressionable princess.
This is Aranda's most expensive work and was made with a large budget. The film has both humor and drama, is lavish, risqué, and skillfully composed, but it was considered to be superficial and unsatisfying. ''Tirant lo Blanc'' did not enjoy the success of the director's two previous films.
''Canciones de Amor en Lolita's club'' (2007)
Aranda has created a niche in adapting novels by Juan Marsé for film.
With ''
La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro
''The Girl with the Golden Panties'' ( es, La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro) is a 1980 Spanish film directed by Vicente Aranda and released through Morgana Films. It stars Victoria Abril and Lautaro Murúa. The plot follows a middle-aged writer as ...
'' (1980); ''
Si te dicen que caí'' (1989), ''
El Amante Bilingüe
''The Bilingual Lover'' ( es, El Amante Bilingüe) is a 1993 Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda and adapted from a novel by Juan Marsé. The film stars Imanol Arias, Ornella Muti and Loles León. The film is a grotesque drama, wi ...
'' (1993), and
Canciones de Amor en Lolita's club (2007) (Lolita's Club), the director has a track record of four adaptations from Marsé's contemporary novels.
''Canciones de amor en Lolita's Club'' (2007) is an erotic thriller, in which sex and brutality are mixed in a story of very different twin brothers. One is a coldhearted, violent police officer; the other is a helpless romantic suffering from a mental handicap. The two brothers become involved with a prostitute who works in the bordello for which the film is named. Released in November 2007, the film was widely considered a disappointment and quickly disappeared from the Spanish screens.
''Luna Caliente'' (2009)
Aranda's last film, ''
Luna Caliente'' (2009) (''Hot Moon''), tells the story of a poet who briefly returns to his home town, gets entangled in a web of sex and violence. He rapes the young daughter of his host. The script is based on a novel by Argentine
Mempo Giardinelli
Mempo Giardinelli (born August 2, 1947) is an Argentine novelist and academic, author of numerous books, including novels, essay collections, and short story collections. Biography
Giardinelli was born in Resistencia, Chaco Province. He enrolled a ...
, which places the action during the last military coup in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
Aranda set the story in Spain of the 1970s during the process of ''Burgos,'' under which some of the last death sentences in Spain during Franco's regime were executed. ''Luna Caliente'' premiered in October 2009 at the
Valladolid International Film Festival
The Valladolid International Film Festival, popularly known as Seminci (short for ; ), is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain. First held in 1956 as ('Valladolid Religious Film Week'), the Seminci is one of the longest-standing fi ...
, but it failed to find an audience.
Filmography
Notes
References
*Alvarez, Rosa & Frias, Belen. ''Vicente Aranda: El Cine Como Pasión''. Huelva, XX Festival de Cine Iberoamericano de Huelva, 1994,
*Benavent, Francisco María. ''Cine Español de los Noventa''. Ediciones Mensajero, 2000,
*Cánovás, Joaquín (ed.), Varios Autores: ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda''. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, 2000,
*Colmena, Enrique. ''Vicente Aranda''. Cátedra, Madrid, 1986,
*D'Lugo, Marvin. '' Guide to the Cinema of Spain''. Greenwood Press, 1997.
*Guarner, José Luis. ''El Inquietante Cine de Vicente Aranda''. Imagfic, D.L.1985
*Majarín, Sara. ''Una vida de cine: Pasión, Utopía, Historia: Lecciones de Vicente Aranda''. Editorial Zumaque S.L., 2013.
*Jordan, Barry & Morgan-Tomosunas, Rikki. ''Contemporary Spanish Cinema'', Manchester University Press, 1998,
*Mira, Alberto. ''Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema''. The Scarecrow Press, 2010,
*Perriam, Chris. '' Stars and Masculinity in Spanish Cinema: From Banderas to Bardem''. Oxford University Press, 2003. .
*Stone, Rob,'' Spanish Cinema''. Pearson Education, 2002,
*Torres, Augusto. ''Diccionario del cine Español''. Espasa Calpe, 1994,
*Vera, Pascual. ''Vicente Aranda''. Ediciones J.C, Madrid, 1989,
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aranda, Vicente
1926 births
2015 deaths
People from Barcelona
Film directors from Aragon
Film directors from Catalonia
Best Director Goya Award winners
Spanish expatriates in Venezuela
Spanish male screenwriters