Belle Époque (film)

Belle Époque

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Fernando Trueba
Produced by Fernando Trueba
Written by Rafael Azcona
José Luis García Sánchez
Fernando Trueba
Starring Jorge Sanz
Penélope Cruz
Fernando Fernán Gómez
Miriam Díaz Aroca
Ariadna Gil
Maribel Verdú
Music by Antoine Duhamel
Guillermo Fernández-Shaw
Federico Romero
Cinematography José Luis Alcaine
Editing by Carmen Frías
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s) December 4, 1992 (1992-12-04)
Running time 109 minutes
Country Spain
Language Spanish
Box office $5,418,216 (United States)[1]

Belle Époque is a 1992 Spanish film directed by Fernando Trueba. The title derives from the period in French history known as the Belle Époque (“The Beautiful Era”).

Contents

Plot

The year is 1931. Spain is politically divided between Republicans and Traditionalists and on the verge of the Spanish Second Republic. Fernando, a young soldier, deserts his duty. He befriends Manolo, an old man with a large house in the country. Fernando meets and is enchanted by Manolo's four daughters. As he meets each of the first three one by one, he falls in love and has sex with each of them, determining to marry, but with each one a complication arises: Clara (a widow who only recently lost her husband and who seeks solace with Fernando); Violeta (a lesbian who is only attracted to Fernando when he is dressed as a woman for a costume ball); and Rocío (a social climber who is about to marry into a royalist family for the security it would provide, and who only momentarily succumbs to Fernando's charms). Heartbroken each time, the father of the girls encourages him to have patience. Each of the daughters is beautiful, and represents a different aspect of feminine sexuality. The youngest of the family, Luz, represents naïveté. While Fernando is pursuing her sisters, Luz gets progressively more angry and jealous, but eventually Fernando realizes that she is the best one of the four to marry.

Cast

Awards

References

External links