''Your Name Poisons My Dreams'' ( es, Tu nombre envenena mis sueños, links=no) is a 1996 Spanish thriller film directed by

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 ...

consisting of an adaptation of the novel ''Tu nombre envenena mis sueños'' by Joaquín Leguina. It stars

Carmelo Gómez Carmelo Gómez Celada (born 2 January 1962) is a Spanish actor. He is the recipient of two Goya Awards, for best supporting actor in '' The Method'' and best leading actor in '' Running Out of Time''. A very popular actor in 1990s Spanish cine ...

and

Emma Suárez Emma Suárez Bodelón (born 25 June 1964) is a Spanish actress. She has won twice the Goya Award for Best Actress, namely for her performances in '' The Dog in the Manger'' (1996) and '' Julieta'' (2016). Biography Emma Suárez Bodelón was born ...

alongside Ángel de Andrés, Anabel Alonso and

Toni Cantó Antonio Cantó García del Moral, known as Toni Cantó (born 14 January 1965) is a Spanish actor, current People's Party politician and former Citizens deputy and spokesman, who represented Valencia Province in the Congress of Deputies from 20 ...

Plot

The fiction, starting in 1942, is primarily set in post-

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Francoist 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, Spai ...

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 ...

(1940s), focusing on the case pertaining the killings of some Falangists, conveyed from the point of view of inspector Ángel Barciela, the policeman taking over the investigation; there are however another two timelines corresponding to the 1950s, and to the actual war period.

Cast

Production

A film adaptation of Joaquín Leguina's novel ''Tu nombre envenena mis sueños'', the screenplay was penned by

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 (film), Lágrimas negras''. He wrote ...

and

. The film was produced by Sogetel/Central de Producciones Audiovisuales and it had the participation of Sogepaq and Canal Plus.

Javier Aguirresarobe Javier Aguirresarobe Zubía (born 10 October 1948) is a Spanish cinematographer.- Life and career Aguirresarobe was born in Eibar, Guipúzcoa, Basque Country, Spain. He has worked with Spanish directors such as Imanol Uribe, Montxo Armendári ...

was responsible for cinematography, José Nieto for the music, and for film editing. Rafael Díaz-Salgado,

José Luis Olaizola Jose Luis Olaizola is a writer. Born in San Sebastián, Spain in 1927, he was a lawyer for 15 years, until he found his vocation in writing. He has written novels such as ''La guerra del general Escobar'' which received the ''Premio Planeta'' ...

and Fernando de Garcillán were credited as producers.

Release

The film was presented at the 44th

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in ...

in September 1996, the same year as ''

The Dog in the Manger The story and metaphor of The Dog in the Manger derives from an old Greek fable which has been transmitted in several different versions. Interpreted variously over the centuries, the metaphor is now used to speak of one who spitefully prevents o ...

'', another film directed by Miró, who would die about a year later. Distributed by UIP, it opened in Spanish theatres on 27 September 1996.

Reception

David Rooney 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), ...

'' deemed the film to be a "mediocre period detective thriller", "more sleep-inducing than intoxicating". Augusto Martínez Torres of '' El País'' considered that the story would have probably been more interesting if it had focused on developing the (richer) personality of the woman, rather than on the point of view of the man.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{authority control Films set in the 1940s Films set in Spain Spanish thriller films 1996 thriller films Spanish films about revenge Films set in Madrid 1990s Spanish-language films Films based on Spanish novels 1990s Spanish films Spanish neo-noir films