''The Lost Paradise'' () is a 1985 Spanish film directed by

Basilio Martín Patino Basilio Martín Patino (29October 193013August 2017) was a Spanish film director, specializing in a creative approach to documentary works. Patino produced pieces on the Spanish Civil War (''Canciones para después de una guerra''), the famous d ...

. It stars

Charo López María del Rosario López Piñuelas (born 28 October 1943) better known as Charo López, is a Spanish actress. Filmography *Plan Jack cero tres (1967) *El hueso (1967) *La vida sigue igual (1969) *Ditirambo (1969) * El extraño caso del docto ...

alongside

Alfredo Landa Alfredo Landa Areta MML (3 March 19339 May 2013) was a Spanish actor. Biography He was born in Pamplona, Navarre. He finished his pre-university studies in Donostia-San Sebastián. He then began university studies in law, where he began to ...

Juan Diego Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474–1548), also known simply as Juan Diego (), was a Nahua peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill o ...

, Miguel Narros,

Ana Torrent Ana Torrent Bertrán de Lis (born 12 July 1966) is a Spanish film actress. She featured as a child actress in pictures such as ''The Spirit of the Beehive'' (1973), and ''Cría cuervos'' (1976), ''Elisa, vida mía'' (1977) and '' The Nest'' (19 ...

and Paco Rabal.

Plot

An unnamed mature woman, daughter of a Spanish Republican exiled lecturer, returns to her parents' country, where she meets a number of people from her past, including Miguel, Benito, Lorenzo and an unnamed Socialist politician. She translates Hölderlin's '' Hyperion'' in the family house. The film, an expression of the disenchantment experienced after the

Spanish transition The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

, underpins a criticism to the transition itself and the so-called '' pacto del olvido''.

Cast

Production

Shooting locations included

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

Toro Toro may refer to: Places *Toro, Molise, a ''comune'' in the Province of Campobasso, Italy *Toro, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria *Toro, Shizuoka, an archaeological site in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan *Toro, Zamora, a ''m ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and Zamora.

Release

The film screened at the

42nd Venice International Film Festival The 42nd annual Venice International Film Festival was held on 26 August to 6 September 1985. Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi was the Jury President of the main competition. The Golden Lion winner was '' Vagabond'' directed by Agnès Var ...

in August 1985. It was theatrically released on 17 October 1985.

Reception

Ángel Fernández-Santos Ángel Fernández-Santos (1934–2004) was a Spanish film critic and screenwriter. Born in Los Cerralbos, province of Toledo, in 1934, he was the younger brother of Marxist philosopher . He studied for a brief spell at the in the early 1960s. As ...

of ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'', considered ''The Lost Paradise'' to be a "prodigiously assembled" film, to which the camera of Alcaine "bordering on the sublime" and the musical score's intensity and coupling add up, filling it "with rare beauty", while noting that it featured a couple of events (two additions of "foreign coarseness") totally out of place.

Informational notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Paradise 1980s Spanish-language films 1985 drama films Spanish drama films Films shot in Madrid Films shot in the province of Ávila Films shot in the province of Salamanca Films shot in the province of Zamora Films set in the 1980s United International Pictures films