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LOVERS - A True Story by Vicente Aranda
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VHS Tape Cover InformationActor: Enrique Cerro, Jorge Sanz, Mabel Esca?o, Maribel Verd?, Victoria Abril Director: Vicente Aranda Edition: VHS Tape Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Original Language), Analog; Spanish (Dubbed), Analog Format: Color, NTSC Running Time: 105 minutes Release Date: 1996-03-05 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Publisher: Republic Pictures Studio: Republic Pictures
VHS Movie Reviews of LOVERS - A True StoryMovie Review: Obsession,passion,lust,greed,manipulation and death and stupidity in Madrid. Summary: 3 StarsIn light of the recent "astronaut affairs" when one female astronaut alledgedly set out to kill her competition for the affections of a fellow male astronaut, LOVERS (AMANTHES),Vincente Aranda's Film Festival bombshell from 1992 reenacts the same kind of events that sent scandal sheets wagging in 1950's Madrid,Spain.
Simply put,Paco has been engaged to the virginal and quite observantly Catholic Trini for two years.Paco wants to consumate their sexual union before the marriage and Trini is positively resistant.Paco needs to find a place to board, and rents a room at Luisa's.Within no time at all,Luisa, an older and somewhat secretive landlady seduces Paco.Paco becomes positively and senselessly obsessed by Luisa.Trini suspects this attraction and wants to fight for Paco whom she has hopelessly fallen completely dependent to the point that without him death is preferable.Paco becomes stuck between his passionate obsession for Luisa and his promised engagement to Trini.When Luisa has fallen into deep financial trouble,she, knowing that Trini has saved money, asks Paco to kill Trini.
Frankly, if I didn't know that these kind of lustful and passion-filled triangles had existed down through the ages, I would been tempted to stop watching the film out of frustration at all three of the principle characters.Paco is young, horny and can't keep a job or his word; Trini works hard, goes to Church and seems to have no sense of her own worth apart from Paco; and Luisa is manipulative,needy and greedy as well as being a self-confessed murderer of her late husband. A therapist would have a field day with all three of them!The characters are all so unlikeable and fractured that no empathy or sympathy can be mustered for any of the dysfunctional three.What is interesting here is that I don't believe that we are supposed to find our allegiances in any camp.We simply watch this tale of lust,obsession,manipulation and low self esteem play out before us.I was reminded of the 2005 film MATCH POINT in some repects.
LOVERS never really rises to the ocassion.The dialogue is rather dry and uninteresting.The story never has the necessary compelling and propelling action or direction to get the viewer terribly interested or involved with this lover's triangle.There is no true rising action to get to a climax and denoument.Yes, there are numerous sex scenes, but even those don't seem to create any real tension and as a whole, this film stays static...very static!There is positively no shock value at all.Reading about this in a Tabloid paper would have given the same effect....detached and emotionless from a reporter's point of view. The ending is quite truncated with short epilogues that fill out what happened to these three, which only cheapened the film further.
Rated R for American release with readable English subtitles, even the Director's NC-17 version shown in the theatres is no better or more interesting unless seeing more skin is worth it to you.The latter version can be also purchased, but save your time and money.Nothing really can make this film any more insightful or interesting.
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