black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
campaign of feeding the poor. They are actually both
disgust
Disgust (, from Latin , ) is an emotional response of rejection or revulsion to something potentially contagious or something considered offensive, distasteful or unpleasant. In ''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'', Charles D ...
ed by the poor, and treating them as their personal possessions. Meanwhile, the impoverished owner of a motorcycle car tries to find enough money to pay for his vehicle.
Plot
In a small provincial town, a group of "pious" women is fond of ostentatiously practicing charity. They organize a Christmas campaign under the motto "Feed a poor man at your table." In order to support the initiative, the sponsorship of a pot brand is sought, and a group of second-rate artists is invited. The artists have come expressly from the capital and are received enthusiastically at the train station. The humanitarian day is completed with a colorful parade, a public auction of the guests, and a dramatic radio broadcast.
The person in charge of organizing this lavish chain of events is Quintanilla, who has hired Plácido for the occasion, a poor man who must utilize the motorcycle car that he has just acquired and has not yet begun to pay for. The hectic activity in which Plácido is involved prevents him from paying the first payment on the vehicle on time, which expires that same night. From that moment, Placido tries by all means to find a solution to his problem because his vehicle is what he uses to earn a living. However, he is taken from one place to another, involved in a series of unexpected incidents, including a comedy of errors involving an elderly beggar with heart problems.
The film is a race against time to get the money paid before the deadline expires. Berlanga's social satire pokes fun at rich people trying to soothe their consciences by helping a poor person for one day. Along the way, we see their disgust at being near the poor, debates over whether it's better to choose a street person or an elderly poor person, and showing off "their" poor person to their friends as though they were a possession. Berlanga also pokes fun at actors more concerned about
Xan das Bolas
Tomás Ares Pena, known as Xan das Bolas (30 October 1908 – 13 September 1977) was a Spanish comic actor active during the franquism with films including '' Botón de ancla'' (1961).
Filmography Films
TV series
References
External l ...
The film emerged from a campaign devised by the Franco regime, under the slogan "seat a poor person at your table", aimed at fostering a sense of Christian charity towards the underprivileged in society. However, as Berlanga manages to depict, it actually conceals a means of appeasing
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
consciences—a sentiment nowadays addressed by "Christmas solidarity
telethon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause.
Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...
s", programs which Berlanga confessed to abhorring. The original concept centered around a Christmas banquet where the wealthy invited the impoverished; the former indulged in chicken breasts while the latter made do with the wings.
As Berlanga tinkered with the script,
Rafael Azcona
Rafael Azcona Fernández (24 October 1926 – 24 March 2008) was a Spanish screenwriter and novelist who worked with some of the best Spanish and international filmmakers. Azcona won five Goya Awards during his career, including a lifetim ...
(one of the co-writers of the film alongside José Luis Colina, José Luis Font, and Berlanga) joined the project. Azcona had to journey to Rome during the script's development to acquaint himself with the works of Zavattini, as he was collaborating with various Italian directors during that period.
Initially titled ''Seat a Poor Person at Your Table'', the script underwent a last-minute change due to censorship issues, ultimately named after the main male character.
Filming took place on sets in
Manresa
Manresa () is the capital of Bages county, located in the central region of Catalonia, Spain.
Crossed by the river Cardener, it is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are arranged aro ...
, although Berlanga sought to capture natural interiors. However, no affluent individuals granted access, save for a Catalan director, a friend of Berlanga's, who permitted the use of his Barcelona home's dining room.
Reception
''Plácido'' premiered on 13 November 1961, and was met with surprise by the general public and emphatic applause from critics. Víctor Erice remarked, "The film's ultimate goal is to depict the incommunicability among people. For me, Berlanga is fundamentally a romantic," while López Vázquez stated, "Berlanga's films are grotesque, not just reflecting the Spain of the time, but the eternal Spain." ''
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 ...
'' critic Miguel Ángel Palomo described it as "Berlanga's grand masterpiece, not only a flawless comedy of manners, but also a devastating social portrait." Upon its release, the film faced controversy over its final carol, which laments: "Mother, there's a child at the door, shouting in the cold. Tell him to come in and warm up, for in this land, charity is scarce, has always been, and perhaps always will be."
''Plácido'' has an approval rating of 100% on
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on 6 reviews, and an average rating of 9/10.
Accolades
In the 17th edition of the Circle of Film Writers Medals, ''Plácido'' won the award for Best Film, with Luis García Berlanga receiving recognition as the Best Director, and José Luis López Vázquez clinching the title of Best Supporting Actor. Similarly, in the San Jorge Awards, ''Plácido'' secured the accolade for Best Spanish Film, with Luis García Berlanga again honored as Best Director, and José Luis López Vázquez acclaimed as Best Actor. Additionally, at the 34th Academy Awards ceremony, ''Plácido'' was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. The film also garnered two awards from the National Entertainment Union, one of them honoring Manuel Alexandre as Best Supporting Actor.
See also
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List of Christmas films
Many Christmas stories have been Christmas film, adapted to feature films and TV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on television. Since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, these films are sold and re-sold every ...