At the time, I thought I was very lucky to get acquainted with the tragicomedy of Spanish filmmaking, The Girl of Your Dreams (1998). The strength of this film was in the fine line between comedy and drama, which was confidently stabilized by director Fernando Trueba (in 1994, it was evaluated by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and awarded an Oscar in the category “Best Foreign Language Film”). In the "Girl of Your Dreams" was not even humor, but satire, where a share of bitterness was acutely felt, because the action took place during the Spanish Civil War, and the main characters did not show a view, but verbally often put studs in the direction of the champions of the dictates of Francisco Franco. And then they were also very brave people, despite the fact that they all belonged to the conventional caste of creative natures.
That’s just because of this, I was even in some pleasant anticipation of the premiere of the sequel, dubbed “Queen of Spain” (by the way, the film with this name was allegedly shot in “The Girl of Your Dreams”). But the initial rating received by the "Queen ..." on the KP, I was confused, surprised and disappointed - it was even lower than 6 points, that is, somewhere below a strong "three", if guided by the well-known school assessment system. But still the desire to see and some hope, coupled with a slight distrust of the scores exhibited by the Queen ... won and saw the tape. And after watching, there was only one conclusion: “The average score is quite consistent with what I saw...” If not below ...” And even the barbs released towards the fascists are not able to fill the Queen with something serious, because they are few and all of them are some kind of “skinny”.
For unknown reasons, Fernando Trueba broke the picture into several parallel storylines, none of which was properly spelled out and brought to a logical conclusion. Everything looked like a set of incongruous colorful patches, which together did not make a good composition. Metaphorically speaking, a boat called the Queen of Spain sailed on an unknown course, the map was lost, and the crew led by the captain was dead drunk. And the inadvertent passengers did not know how to save the ship and, in the end, as expected, the boat went down, a boat that did not even know what port it was going to. And all this because of the frankly weak and raw script. In general, there was a feeling that some fragments were written already during filming, so part of the film generally fell out of the storyline.
So it turns out that only the actors diligently did their job, although there was no special enthusiasm in their eyes, probably already realized that the Queen of Spain is unlikely to fly along the waves. There are no complaints against Antonio Resines, Neus Asensi, Ana Belén, Javier Camara, Rosa Maria Sarda and many others - they did not fail, showing themselves to be true professionals. There is in the “Queen...” and the guest star is Cary Elvis, known to all in the horror franchise “Saw”. There is only one funny episode that tries to make a smile (although the scene of violent sodomy is hardly funny). But the prima of the whole film by Penelope Cruz did not cause special emotions with her game. She still looks amazingly seductive, but her game is not convincing. And her kind of romantic storyline with the hero of actor Chicho Darin causes only bewilderment, if not to say that it causes nothing at all. In “The Girl of Your Dreams”, the duet Cruz with actor Karel Dobra was much better!
From Fernando Trueba and the collection of Spanish stars of the first magnitude I did not expect this. The surest decision would be not to shoot the sequel to the tragicomedy “The Girl of Your Dreams”. “Queen of Spain” has a very bad script and from this the film seems to stop in the middle of a word and this understatement is even more upsetting.
4 out of 10
Continuation of the painting “The girl of your dreams” almost twenty years ago. It is noteworthy that in the film itself the action takes place about twenty years after the prequel. I wonder if the director had planned that or if he woke up one morning and thought about what kind of project to do. And then I remembered that eighteen years ago he was making a very good movie, and now it's time to think about a sequel. Avos will roll again.
I didn’t watch the first movie, unfortunately, because otherwise I would have understood a lot at once and would not have to make assumptions while watching.
The first film was kind of a success, as far as the second one is concerned, and I doubt its undeniable success. First of all, many of those who have watched The Queen of Spain don’t even know that it’s a sequel to a movie they’ve been sharing for twenty years. Even if you saw the first movie, you probably don’t remember what it was about. Such large breaks between parts of the same franchise are harmful and dangerous.
As for the actors, they are amazing, every one of them. Cary Elvis is the most scoundrel, looking at the fillet parts of men, Mandy Patinkin is an undeservedly not mentioned in the credits screenwriter, Clive Reville, who got a very difficult role: he constantly sleeps, and in breaks of wakefulness he shouts “Action!” – such a hard job at the director, Chino Darin – with charming Mexican mustaches and, of course, the Oscar-winning Queen – Penelope Cruz. I would also like to mention Antonio Resines, whose character, after twenty years of wandering through concentration camps, returned to his homeland, where, oddly enough, he was not welcome.
“Queen of Spain” is a parody of the way films were made in Europe. It was very interesting to watch this process from the inside and very comical (something similar to what I saw in Long Live Caesar!). This movie doesn’t look like Hollywood, it’s Spanish from hair roots to toes. Eh, Spain, hot blood - only there can send a man to a quarry just because he saw his ex-wife, and send his tyrant away, looking him straight in the eyes. The Spaniards are so Spanish.
We can safely say that in modern cinema there is a new interesting trend, which was started by Michelle Hazanavicius with his Oscar-winning “Artist”. The idea was picked up by the Coen Brothers, shooting a stylish comedy “Long Live Caesar!” about the golden age of Hollywood. In Russia, Valery Todorovsky was responsible for the retrospective - his serial film "Thaw" about filmmakers of the 60s became a real revelation for the viewer. The general public knows little about how it all began, what difficulties, both in profession and in life, faced the forefathers of cinema.
And few people know that long before the world heard about Jean Dujardin, Spain was already fantasizing about the theme of “artist and history”. Fernando Trueba back in 1998 shot the film “The Girl of My Dreams” – a picture about the film crew of the Madrid film studio and its pearl – the Spanish actress Macarena Granada performed by Penelope Cruz. In 2016, the director decided to continue the story and shot a sequel called “Queen of Spain”, only slightly updating the cast.
This time we are talking about the shooting of a historical canvas about Isabella Catholica, commissioned by General Franco himself. The country opens its doors to foreigners, attracts American specialists, but in fact remains under the rule of a brutal dictatorship. Director Blas Fontiveros, who went through hell in Mauthausen and was long considered dead, returns to Spain. In search of work, he enters a film studio in Madrid, where he reunites with old colleagues and friends. The Frankists soon arrest the poor fellow, and the old filmmakers, who until now dutifully fulfilled the whim of their dictator, get a chance to do something desperate and real - to save a friend from imminent reprisals.
Spanish cinema is quite original, and this is its charm. In his film, Trueba ironizes a lot about the “Hollywood influence,” which essentially kills the entire creative process. He contrasts Americans with Spaniards, stressing that a real masterpiece does not need a colossal budget, the support (read: pressure) of the government or an elderly Hollywood luminary in the director's chair, but just a good idea and a couple of impoverished actors dedicated to their cause.
Some heavyness of the picture gives a large number of details, historical realities and an impressive number of key characters, but, to be fair, this heavyness has long and firmly entered the Spanish cinema in the 80s. This technique allows you to plunge into the era as deep as possible and feel it more.
The rapid change of scenes and characters adds dynamics to the film, the viewer is not left without a bright and funny picture for almost a minute, even if he does not let go of the feeling that the main storyline is not very strong, the motivation of the characters is not always clear and some jokes are right on the verge of a foul.
We know almost nothing about the characters themselves, with the exception of Granada and Fontiveros – most likely, the director’s calculation was that the viewer knew all of them from the first film. However, when you have so many characters at once, you hardly have time to properly understand their characters. The mystery remains the “main character” – she rarely manages to pull the blanket over herself that you only begin to guess what kind of character she is. Ideally, she would have to evolve from a Hollywood actress who is unable to understand her famous heroine for centuries, into a proud Spaniard who inspires colleagues to exploits and is able to send one of the most terrible people of the 20th century to her face. But all this somehow “guess”, the viewer is not very interested in either her tragic past or her personal exploits. She's just a very beautiful woman handing out juicy slaps.
The Queen of Spain is marketed as a drama about artists living under a dictatorship, and yet traditional buffoonade does not promote suspense. In the conflict between the artist and the state, the artist wins in this film, and yet the reason for this is the convention inherent in this film. Yes, Granada sends Franco, but the viewer noticeably misses some point in this narrative. Nothing has changed in the characters, in the state as a whole, or in cinema. Having finished playing the heroes of the underground, the characters will return to the same place as they began - with the creation of a bad but expensive movie based on a script written in three days under three bottles of cognac, about a queen who few people understand and remember. Maybe that's what the drama really is about.
Pinelope the Magnificent is the new queen of cinema, recognized on both sides of the ocean as if she was playing herself (as coincidentally). Previously, a similar image of pure Martian beauty carried Audrey Hepburn, and she, too, once engaged in ballet. Pinelope even wins by temperament. A good actress, she is able to revitalize any space: she plays, sings, changes royal dresses - white, red, blue and in roses, mesmerizing all of us, the audience, and actors in a movie about another movie. A complex task, like a loop closed within itself, and executed without fear that the viewer will doubt whether all the plots are already exhausted. Having overcome the doubt, the movie will flare up, not immediately, but brightly: the intrigue will twist, the actors will have time to fall in love, will give a fountain of sharp humor rare in the native cinema (" God willing, I will live to a hundred, and not give - especially so). )
So, actress Macarena Granada returned from America to her homeland, where the dictator Franco, who came after the revolutionary fall of the monarchy, is in power. She will play the historical role of the Queen of Spain, also the ruler of another period of the same country. Blas Fontieros, the former director and lover of Macarena, returns from the detention camp where he spent many years. He's a nice balanced person and it's not clear what kind of threat he poses. And on the set colorful people - producers, consultants and directors, described in detail with all the secrets and sexual preferences. Life boils no matter what. Macarena begins an affair with Leo, a mechanic. However, the times are difficult (the Republic of Frank will last 36 years), and Blas is arrested again.
“The righteous pay for sinners,” says one of the heroes. This is a political turmoil, not a spiritual one, and therefore a cheerful film studio will not leave Blas in trouble. At the risk of many, they will run a dangerous campaign to rescue him. In the finale, cinema and reality accidentally mix, justifying illusions and inaccuracies in modern interpretations of the ambiguous past. It is not superfluous, however, a reminder that historical storms will pass, suffering will wash away evil, there are many temptations, and the path is one.
Anyone who does not like historical films, and politics, especially, is recommended to watch, Pinelope Cruz is a real queen.
8 out of 10
When you start watching “Queen of Spain”, it is important to remember that director Fernando Trueba directed a sequel to his film “The Girl of Your Dreams” in 1998. If you watched the Girl, then the plot of the Queen will seem to you even more slender and verified, if not, it is also not a problem.
The film is good precisely for its quality and multilayering, the elaboration of storylines, excellent acting and indescribable Spanish flavor.
The beloved heroes of the long-suffering film crew have now come together in post-war Spain to make a historical film about Queen Isabella Catholic with American money. The director of the future masterpiece appointed the eminent Oscar-winning elderly American John Scott (Clive Reville), peacefully snooping most of the filming process; the role of Isabella approved conquered Hollywood and received American citizenship Macarena Granada (Penelope Cruz); most of the secondary beloved characters Girl also got modest roles; and even returned from the concentration camp and “resurrected” from the dead battered life Blasa Fontiveros (Antonio Recines) by chance to get the role of the second filmmaker, who accidentally got the second fate.
It would seem that life has improved, and luck smiles for the heroes, but suddenly Fontiveros is taken directly from the set by the secret police and assigned to forced labor to build a local landmark together with prisoners of war and political criminals, where working conditions are no different from slave ones, and even the management of construction works is instructed to get rid of Blas by “accident”. The lives of a former lover and friend are in danger, and now the brave Magdalena, enlisting the support of old friends on the set and a new young lover Leo (Chino Darin), who was also a member of the Resistance, will implement a rescue plan. Brash and funny rescuers must not only save Fontiveros, but also keep in the shooting schedule, managing not to arouse suspicion and not falling into the clutches of the police.
A very twisted plot is abundantly flavored with subtle dives of characters, wonderful intersperses of pieces of filming and funny episodes from the lives of the main and secondary characters. For the most comedic part of the plot is the famous Russian audience actor Carey Elvis, who plays the role of the American actor in the Queen, playing the husband of Isabella-Penelope Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Fernando Trueba again brilliantly manages to easily and ironically show not only the film in the film, but also to focus the audience’s attention on serious life issues, without exerting excessive pressure. If you want to watch a pleasant movie with a good plot, vulgar humor and wonderful acting - be sure to go to the Queen of Spain.
P.S. A separate pleasant bonus will be the vocal performance of the unsurpassed Penelope Cruz song about Granada.