El Sur (film)
| El Sur | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Víctor Erice |
| Screenplay by | Víctor Erice |
| Based on | |
| Produced by | Elías Querejeta |
| Starring | Omero Antonutti Sonsoles Aranguren Icíar Bollaín Aurore Clément |
| Cinematography | José Luis Alcaine |
| Edited by | Pablo González del Amo |
| Music by | Enrique Granados |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
El Sur (The South) is a 1983 Spanish drama film directed by Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was produced by Elias Querejeta, and starred Icíar Bollaín as the adult main character. It is based on Adelaida García Morales' short novel of the same name.[1]
As in the novella, the film takes place solely in the north of Spain. However, the novella picks up where the screenplay leaves off, taking Estrella on a journey to the south of Spain. Elías Querejeta, the film's producer, decided not to allow the filming of the latter 90 minutes, which would have been filmed in the south. Querejeta attributed this to a lack of financing, although neither Erice nor the film's cinematographer, José Luis Alcaine, believed that was the reason. Erice felt the film was incomplete and described it as an "unfinished drama" even though it was well received by critics.[2]
Plot
[edit]In 1957, Estrella, a young girl living in northern Spain, awakens to learn her father Agustín has died. Seven years prior, he had worked as a physician and a dowser who divinely locates underground water using a pendulum. One night, after he returns home, Estrella tries to enter her father's attic but is prevented by her mother Julia. Meanwhile, Estrella is educated by her mother in calligraphy and literature. She learns from Julia that her father had lived in southern Spain—"El Sur"—during his childhood, but left after a dispute with Estrella's grandfather.
Months pass, and Estrella's grandmother Rosario and her friend Milagros arrive to attend Estrella's First Communion. One night before bedtime, Milagros explains that during the Spanish Civil War, her grandfather supported Francisco Franco while Agustín was a Republican. When the Civil War ended, and Franco had assumed power, Agustín vowed to never return to the south again. Estrella proceeds with her communion ceremony and dances with her father afterwards. Shortly after, she enters her father's study and finds drawings he had made of his former lover named Irene Ríos.
Later, Estrella arrives at a movie theater, and discovers Irene Ríos is an actress whose name is featured on a film poster. She asks a box office clerk for a program, and watches her father walking into the theater to view her film. He leaves early and arrives at a café where he writes a letter to Irene, whose real name is Laura, asking for her whereabouts. Days later, Irene replies curious why he is contacting her after several years. She also details her career struggles and life experiences as an older woman since they stopped dating. Depressed, Agustín leaves but returns home the next morning with no one noticing and stops using his pendulum. In frustration, Estrella hides underneath her bed for several hours, which causes her mother and their maid Casilda to look for her. Julia eventually finds her while Agustín remains isolated.
In 1957, Estrella matures into a young teenager. At home, she is being romantically pursued by a young man, nicknamed "El Carioco." She traverses the theater looking for film posters with Irene's name featured, but finds none. Her father invites her to the Grand Hotel where Estrella converses with her father about the night she followed him to the theater and café. She leaves, and sometime later, Agustín dies by suicide near a lakeshore. Estrella finds a receipt of a long-distance telephone call among her father's belongings, but decides to tell no one. She becomes ill, and her mother allows her to stay with her grandmother in southern Spain to recuperate.
Cast
[edit]- Omero Antonutti - Agustín Arenas
- Sonsoles Aranguren - Estrella, 8 years
- Icíar Bollaín - Estrella, 15 years
- Aurore Clément - Irene Ríos / Laura
- Lola Cardona - Julia, Agustín's wife
- Rafaela Aparicio - Milagros
- Francisco Merino - Irene Ríos's Co-Star
- María Caro - Casilda
- José Vivó - Grand Hotel barman
- Germaine Montero - Doña Rosario
- José Luis Fernández, El Pirri - El Carioco
Production
[edit]The film was shot in Ezcaray, La Rioja, Madrid,[3] and Zamora.[4] The exteriors of the Provincial Hospital, where Agustín works, correspond to the Beneficencia building in Logroño—currently home to several departments of the Government of La Rioja as well as the Professional Music Conservatory. The exteriors of the Gran Hotel correspond to the hotel of the same name in Logroño, which is currently occupied by offices. The café where the letters are read corresponds to Café Barbieri, located in the Lavapiés neighborhood of Madrid.[5] Furthermore, the Arcadia Cinema—where the film starring Irene Ríos is screened—is actually a former movie theater, the Cinema Vesa, located in Vitoria; it has since been converted into a shopping arcade that has preserved the distinctive shell-shaped façade featured in Erice’s film.
Reception
[edit]Vincent Canby of The New York Times highlighted the performances by Omero Antonutti and Icíar Bollaín, but felt the film lacked "a dominating performance like that of Ana Torrent in [The Spirit of the Beehive]. Everything about El Sur, including the highly theatrical lighting, is so artfully composed that it seems to be more about film making than characters or ideas."[6]
The film was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.[7] It won the Gold Hugo at the 1983 Chicago International Film Festival.[8] The film won Best Spanish Film at the Sant Jordi Awards[9] and the Best Director award at the Medals of the Film Writers Circle.[10]
El Sur was voted the eighth-best Spanish film by professionals and critics in a 1996 Spanish cinema centenary.[11]
John Patterson, of The Guardian said "This is a simple and moving cinema language, whose serenity belies the rich complexity of its visual construction and its mastery of the themes of childhood, memory and loss. A masterpiece, haunted by itself." and gave the film a 4/5 stars.[12] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 14 critics' reviews are positive.[13]
References
[edit]- ↑ Barroso, Miguel Ángel (2010-03-15). Las cien mejores películas del siglo XX (in Spanish). Ediciones Jaguar. ISBN 978-84-96423-59-6.
- ↑ Lindo, Elvira (21 June 2018). "El Sur: A Complete Incomplete Film". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ↑ Ehrlich, Linda C. (2000-08-28). An Open Window: The Cinema of V'ctor Erice. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-8108-3766-9.
- ↑ Martín, Javier García (2021-01-18). "Zamora en la película «El sur» (1983) de Víctor Erice". Zamorateca (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-05-26.
- ↑ Latorre, Jorge (2006). Tres décadas de El espíritu de la colmena (Víctor Erice) (in Spanish). Ediciones Internacionales Universitarias. ISBN 978-84-8469-173-0.
- ↑ Canby, Vincent (15 January 1988). "Film: 'El Sur,' From Spain". The New York Times. p. C11. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The South". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ "FilmAffinity". FilmAffinity. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
- ↑ ""El Sur", premio "Sant Jordi" al mejor filme español". La Vanguardia. Barcelona. 24 March 1987. p. 27. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ "Premios del CEC a la producción española de 1984". Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos. Archived from the original on 2021-02-14. Retrieved 2026-05-26.
- ↑ Bentley, Bernard P. E. (2008). A Companion to Spanish Cinema. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 319–320. ISBN 978-1-85566-176-9. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ↑ Patterson, John (2016-09-12). "El Sur: the unfinished Spanish drama that's perfect the way it is". The Guardian.
- ↑ "The South". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2026-05-26.
External links
[edit]- El Sur at IMDb
- El Sur at the TCM Movie Database (archived)
