Don't Tempt Me | |
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Promotional poster by Oscar Mariné |
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Directed by | Agustín Díaz Yanes |
Produced by | Edmundo Gil Casas, Gerardo Herrero, Eduardo Campoy Altavista Films, Cartel Tornason, Eyescreen, Ensueño Films, Flamenco Films |
Written by | Agustín Díaz Yanes |
Starring | Penélope Cruz, Victoria Abril, Demián Bichir, Gael García Bernal, Fanny Ardant, Juan Echanove, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Cristina Marcos, Bruno Bichir, Gemma Jones, Elena Anaya, Peter McDonald |
Music by | Bernardo Bonezzi |
Distributed by | Casa Nova Films |
Release date(s) | 2001 (Spain), August 22, 2003 (Mexico), February 4, 2005 (USA) |
Running time | 115 min. |
Language | Spanish |
Don't Tempt Me (Spanish: Bendito Infierno, also known as Sin noticias de Dios in Spanish and No News From God in English) is a 2001 Mexican and Spanish co-production comedy film. The screenplay for the film was written especially for Penélope Cruz and Victoria Abril by the award-winning Spanish writer and director Agustín Díaz Yanes of Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto.
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This film was nominated for the Goya Awards in 2002 in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actress (Victoria Abril) and Best Supporting Actor (Gael García Bernal).
The film earned Demián Bichir the "Best Bichir in a movie" MTV Movie Awards-Mexico in 2003.
In Heaven, the last ten years have been tough -- Hell has been winning the battle between Good and Evil. The managers of Heaven receive a request by a mother to save her son's soul and see the possibility of winning the soul of a boxer named Many (Demián Bichir) as an opportunity to shift the balance of power. Although Many is severely in debt and is even thinking of suicide, Lola (Victoria Abril), an angel, is sent to Earth to take over the role of the boxer's wife. To counter this, Hell's manager Jack Davenport (Gael García Bernal) decides to send one of his more troublesome agents, Carmen (Penélope Cruz), who was a male ex-gangster punished by being converted into a waitress, to fight back by impersonating Many's cousin. Though it starts out as a simple fight between heaven and hell for the soul of one man, a conspiracy in Hell and conflicting emotions interrupt the war between saints and sinners. Many is overprotective of Lola and after looking through the porn magazines that Carmen loved to browse through when she was still a man, he suspects a relationship between Lola and Carmen. Suddenly Many's soul becomes increasingly important and his weakened physical state creates a deadline by which he must go to Hell or Heaven. It is the job of the supernatural agents to tempt or save Many. The obstinate womanizing boxer inconsistently shows signs of regret and change, for example when he writes a letter of apology to his mother but doesn't send it. His ups and downs make it a hard job for both Carmen and Lola.
Javier Bardem (Penélope Cruz's later real-life husband) makes an unbilled cameo appearance (without dialogue) at the very end of the film as Cruz's character's male form.
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