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Bruno Bergonzini, Roger Casamajor, Antonia Torrens, Juli Mira, Ángela Molina ... see more see more... , Simón Andreu

Agusti Villaronga directs this intensely morbid love story about fascist executions, disease, bloody animal abuse, and violent homoeroticism. Set in a small village on the island of Mallorica during t... read more read more...he Spanish civil war, four children witness the execution of leftists at the hands of pro-Franco villagers. In a desperate act of revenge, one of the children kills the son of the lead executioner. Ten years later, the three survivors of the incident find themselves recuperating in a sanitarium. Fragile Manuel (Bruno Bergonzini), who suffers from TB, has fervently embraced Christianity, while violent Andreu (Roger Casamajor), who also suffers from the disease, boasts about his womanizing exploits while secretly longing for Morell (Juli Mira), an elderly male black marketeer. The third survivor is Francisca (Antonia Torrens) who, after losing her virginity to Andreu, became a nun working as a nurse at the institute. As the two young men's sickness deepens, they grow increasingly tormented. Manuel violently reacts to his attraction to Andreu by growing even more fanatically religious, while Andreu's sexual frustration results in him brutally killing a cat. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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60% liked it

749 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 47 min.

Directed by: Agustí Villaronga

Release Date: August 8, 2003

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DVD Release Date: December 14, 2004

Stats: 36 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (36)

  • RicC
    July 7, 2011
    RicC
    Well, I thought the film was in Spanish at first, and I kept on thinking I was going crazy until I realized the Catalonians were doing their thing again and tricking me (Joder!). I finally input subtitles, and I didn't want to go back since I was lazy, so this reviewer has the be... read moreginning of this movie understood sort of blurry...

    Agusti Villaronga's other film Tras el Cristal was highly controversial, dark, harrowing - basically my taste - so I thought I'd give this a go, and who wouldn't given the awesome cover? However, I was treated yet again to another war-tied story, and those sort of films usually bore me, reminding me of school. Nevertheless, it was quite a treat: constant deaths, forbidden love, sexual desire, religious mania, hetero- and homoflexibility!! Yeah - you can say that the story's an excuse for presenting violence while developing characters just to prepare that one scene where a guy is about to semi-rape another guy demanding, "I'm not going to leave until
    I've cum all over your face."

    Overall, a decent stab at presenting everything; an above average gay-themed film. The metaphors were uninteresting though, the story a bit in need of condensing, and the majority of the people will hate how it ends.

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Critic Reviews

Geoff Andrew
May 12, 2008
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

Too portentous, overheated, flashy, derivative and implausible for its own good. Full Review

Don Willmott
April 1, 2005
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

a depressing concept, but it makes for interesting stories Full Review

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