''Black Tears'' () is a 1998 Spanish romantic drama film directed by Ricardo Franco and Fernando Bauluz. Ricardo Franco's

swan song The swan song (; ) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death while they have been ...

, filming was unfinished upon Franco's death and then completed under assistant director Fernando Bauluz. It stars

Ariadna Gil Ariadna Gil i Giner (; born 23 January 1969) is a Spanish actress. She is known for her performances in films such as ''Belle Époque'' (for which she won the Goya Award for Best Actress), '' Black Tears'' and '' Pan's Labyrinth''. Career Gil ...

and

Fele Martínez Rafael "Fele" Martínez (born 22 February 1975) is a Spanish actor. He gained notoriety for his performance as Chema in ''Thesis'' (1996), his feature film debut and for which he won the Goya Award for Best New Actor. Early years Rafael Martínez ...

alongside

Elena Anaya Elena Anaya Gutiérrez (born 17 July 1975) is a Spanish actress. She garnered public recognition in Spain for her performance in ''Sex and Lucia'' (2001), which also earned her a nomination to the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress. She st ...

, Ana Risueño and

Elvira Mínguez Elvira Mínguez (born 23 July 1965) is a Spanish actress. Mínguez has appeared in such films as '' La cacatúa verde'' (1990), '' El carro de heno'' (1991), '' The Lucky Star'', ''Tapas'' (2005) and '' El desconocido'' (2015). Her television cr ...

Plot

The plot tracks Andrés, a photographer engaged to his long-time girlfriend Alicia who falls romantically for a mentally-ill woman, Isabel (under the guise of 'Ana'), some time after their first encounter when the assault on Andrés by Isabel together with another woman, Cinta—as well as Andrés' ensuing kidnapping, humiliation and rape—took place.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was penned by Ricardo Franco and

Ángeles González Sinde Angeles may refer to: Places *Los Angeles, the largest city in California and the Western US *Angeles City, a highly-urbanized city in Central Luzon, Philippines *Angeles National Forest, a national forest on the outskirts of Los Angeles **Angel ...

, based on an original story by Ricardo Franco and Dionisio Pérez Galindo. The plot has a backdrop of autobiographical elements reportedly inspired by Ricardo Franco's relationship with

Jean Seberg Jean Dorothy Seberg (; ; November 13, 1938August 30, 1979) was an American actress. She is considered an icon of the French New Wave as a result of her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film ''Breathless''. Seberg appeared in 34 films in ...

while the latter was married to

Romain Gary Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew () and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar, was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice (once under a ps ...

. Produced by Sogetel and Aurum, the film featured a 300 million ₧ budget. Director Ricardo Franco died in the midst of the shooting and filming was thus completed by assistant director Fernando Bauluz. Shooting wrapped in June 1998 in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. was responsible for cinematography and for the music.

Release

The film screened at the 43rd

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 ...

(Seminci) in October 1998. It also screened at the

49th Berlin International Film Festival The 49th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1999. The festival opened with '' Aimée & Jaguar'' by Max Färberböck. The Golden Bear was awarded to '' The Thin Red Line'' directed by Terrence Malick. Th ...

(Berlinale) in February 1999. It was theatrically released in Spain on 26 February 1999.

Accolades

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, , Silver Spike for Best Actress , , Ariadna Gil , , , , align = "center" , , - , align = "center" , 2000 , ,

14th Goya Awards The 14th Goya Awards were presented at L'Auditori in Barcelona, Spain on 29 January 2000. It was the first Goya awards ceremony to have taken place outside of Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most pop ...

, ,

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award ...

, , Ariadna Gil , , , , align = "center" ,

References