Belle Époque

1992 1h 49m ES

👍

6.7

SOLID

🔥

95%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 215🍅95%Rotten Tomatoes★7.1IMDB · 12,295

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1931, a young soldier deserts from the army and falls into a country farm, where he is welcomed by the owner due to his political ideas. Manolo has four daughters, Fernando likes all of them and they like him, so he has to decide which one to love.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

Cast

Jorge Sanz
Fernando
Penélope Cruz
Luz
Miriam Díaz-Aroca
Clara
Ariadna Gil
Violeta
Maribel Verdú
Rocío
Fernando Fernán Gómez
Manolo
Gabino Diego
Juanito
María Galiana
La Polonia

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Fernando Trueba
Writers: José Luis García Sánchez, Rafael Azcona, Rafael Azcona
Languages: Spanish
Countries: France, Portugal, Spain

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: France, Portugal, Spain.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Fernando Trueba, shot by José Luis Alcaine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Antoine Duhamel. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Carmen Frías shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Jorge Sanz and Penélope Cruz and Miriam Díaz-Aroca carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0103791 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fernando Trueba directs. José Luis Alcaine behind the camera. Antoine Duhamel scores. Carmen Frías cuts. Produced in France, Portugal, Spain. Dialogue in Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

134 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2International production across 3 countries: France, Portugal, Spain.
3Directed by Fernando Trueba, shot by José Luis Alcaine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Antoine Duhamel. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Carmen Frías shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jorge Sanz and Penélope Cruz and Miriam Díaz-Aroca carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0103791 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 10 themes, including "jealousy", "politics", "desertion", "tango".
9Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: José Luis Alcaine
Original score: Antoine Duhamel
Editing: Carmen Frías
Production design: Juan Botella
Costume design: Lala Huete
Makeup / hair: Ana Lorena
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Status: Released
Original language: ES
IMDB: Belle Époque (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 12,295 votes
MPAA: R
US box office: $5,418,216

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 25 wins & 15 nominations total

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Fernando Trueba

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2022-11-20
★ 4/10
An adult fairy tale with hints of repressed sexual fantasy. Spanish cinema has something that the Portuguese need to learn: it knows how to make films that are enjoyable, entertaining, commercially viable, and yet artistically beautiful and well-made. This movie is far from one of the best, and it decidedly hasn't stood the test of time: I would never have heard of it if I hadn't found the movie on the Internet by chance. The presence of some well-known actors and actresses helped my decision to see it, and I was even pleasantly surprised to discover that the film was filmed in Portugal (I discovered this through the train's locomotive, which I recognized as Portuguese). The script was well written, and weaves a light comedy around a deserting soldier and a very liberal family for the period in which everything takes place, the thirties of the last century. The context is a Spain in political upheaval: the monarchy, unpopular and unloved, is increasingly contested by the people, who place hopes in socialism and republicanism. This is how the republican military uprising in Jaca takes place. The defeat leads Fernando, one of the rebel soldiers, to flee and desert, ending up in a rural region where he meets Manolo, an elderly republican who is quite progressive, but lonely, since his four daughters already live their lives away from their father's house. . When they finally arrive, Fernando refuses to leave because he is enchanted by their beauty: one of them, Clara, is a recent widow; Violet, on the other hand, is a lesbian; Rocío, on the other hand, is dating a boy, from the region, rich, idiot and supporter of Carlist ideologies. The youngest daughter, Luz, is the most innocent. What follows is a cross-over between each of the old man's daughters and the deserting soldier. He actually goes to bed with all of them, and falls in love with each one in turn, which is both hilarious and absurd, and even anachronistic, since it goes against the narrow and closed morality of the Iberian countryside. from that time, when courtship was more social and heavily guarded by the girls' families. This was what irritated me most about the film: the anachrony of the behaviors and excessive sexual tolerance of those people. This seems much more like the product of some modern sexual fetish than a story set in the 1930s. The actors do a reasonably good job: Jorge Sanz is a gentle protagonist, but his performance as an actor is rather lukewarm, and he turns out to be quite erased by the good performance of the actresses. Penélope Cruz and Maribel Verdú are the best actresses: each in their own character, they completely dominate the action with funny and well-executed interpretations. Ariadna Gil is rarely seen, but she also handled the task at hand well. Miriam Diaz-Aroca, in turn, is limited to the average. Fernando Fernán Gomez is a veteran who gives us a good performance, but in an ill-conceived character. Shot in Portugal, the film is quite elegant, and the cinematography works very well, as it does much to give the film a dreamlike look, emphasizing rural beauty and nature. The sets and costumes were well done, and easily transport us to the 30s. The good soundtrack also deserves praise, even if it doesn't have any memorable songs.

Production companies