A film review: "El amante bilingüe" [1993 Spain]

Vicente Aranda isn't particularly renowned for comedy, because he hardly makes any - passionate melodrama is his preferred cup of tea. That's why "El amante bilingüe" [Eng. Title: The Bilingual Lover] stands out in his filmography, for trying to be one.
















Set against the backdrop of resurgent nationalism in seventies Barcelona, the film is about an unusual romance between an oddly matched couple; Norma (Ornella Muti) is a wealthy and pretty Catalan woman, where as Juan Mares' (Imanol Arias) just another 'immigrant' (i.e., not from Catalunya), street-hawking his talents along the famed La Rambla boulevard. They marry after a whirlwind romance.

Returning early from work one day, Juan surprises Norma and a shoe-shine boy (Javier Bardem) frolicking in the bedroom, nude. Norma rebukes him for his unannounced entry and leaves home in anger, but allows him to stay in the flat that she owns. Fired from his job at the family business, Juan heads back to the streets where he plied his trade earlier.

One day, he becomes the target of an apparently random petrol-bomb attack by a group of skinheads and gets disfigured, loosing an eye in the process. Ashamed of his disfigurement, he dons a mask, and broods his fate in the apartment that he once shared with Norma. He misses her; often calling her at work just to hear her voice while pretending to be someone else, Juan will also confront her on streets disguised, and hurl a mouthful of choice expletives at her in Catalan, which he knows will only turn her on - she loves being talked dirty to in that language.

After inventing a new 'look' for himself, Juan will practice his seduction techniques on lonely neighbour Griselda (Loles León), who'll duly be taken by his 'mysterious persona'. With the new found confidence, Juan will plan a scheme that'd enable him to strike up a new relationship with Norma. He'll pretend to be Juan Faneca, a childhood friend of his, who'll be the last person to have seen Juan Mares alive...

While the storyline is quintessentially Catalan, it is also not a comedy that'll cheer audience immensely. Vicente Aranda, by mixing lighter moments with his customary dark satire, has tried to make a film that would generally be associated with fellow Catalan Bigas Luna, whose hugely successful Jamón Jamón coincidentally reached a new and wider world audience only the previous year. There are, of course, several uniquely typical Vicente Aranda symbolisms and moments on display. The house that Juan lives in has tiles constantly falling off the brickwork - a critique of crumbling family and society. A totally blind hotel receptionist, who can also foretell future, advices a half-blind Juan not to give up, since his predicament might just be slightly better off than hers.


Also typical of Aranda's films are the passionate, if slightly unconventional scenes of sex that they often feature, alongside a non-PC sense of humour. Ornella Muti and Imanol Arias were established stars but the rest were rising fast too, like Javier Bardem who appears in just a single scene but certainly creates an impression, and an uncredited Maribel Verdú who appears for no more than four seconds, playing a saxophone. Ms. Muti is as bold and classy as ever, and while this may not be Arias' best film, it is at least a different role to the ones he's used to. Whether you love or hate Vicente Aranda films, you'll certainly find them remarkably original, and for want of a better word - 'memorable' even. This film isn't any different.

Amazon.it DVD Link [PAL] | English Subtitles



The Nudity: Ornella Muti, Javier Bardem, Loles León, and Imanol Arias
Prepare yourself for some kinky goings-on and dirty talk during the film's sex scenes. The leading lady here likes to play with her lovers using a shoe (and both Bardem and Arias enthusiastically oblige), and in one scene Ms. Muti also begs Juan to pee while still inside her - they'd just finished having sex and he was about to pull out, to use the toilet. There's also a scene of a voluptuous Loles León purring as she invites Juan to join her in bed. Spaniards are indeed a fascinating people when it comes to sex..! :-)



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Ornella Muti in "La Ragazza di Trieste" [1982 Italy]

Pasquale Festa Campanile was a successful director, even if he is renowned foremost as a writer, having worked with the likes of Dino Risi and Luchino Visconti on some major projects. His 1982 drama, "La Ragazza di Trieste" [Eng. Title: The Girl from Trieste] is also a moving story adapted from his own novel, appreciated to the extent that elements of the plot have been liberally borrowed worldwide in several films since.

Storyline:
Illustrator Dino watches an attractive young woman rescued at the beach in Trieste. Since she seems to have misplaced her clothes, he offers her his blanket, on condition that she return it after use. As instructed, the woman - Nicole, turns up at Dino's house to return the blanket - only that's the only robe she's wearing. With such a forthright signal, things take their course, and they embark upon a relationship. It turns out dear Nicole is a needy character - even exposing herself in public if she feels necessary to get 'noticed'. But there's an air of mystery surrounding her that Dino feels compelled to unravel, which will soon become his obsession. We will learn through the course of the film that Nicole is actually a mentally ill patient undergoing therapy for borderline schizophrenia. By the time this is revealed though, Dino had already fallen headlong in love with her, and with the help of the psychiatrist hopes to cure her through his love and commitment, but would those really be enough to bring Nicole back to normalcy...

While the protagonists - Ornella Muti as Nicole, and Ben Gazzara as Dino give a credible enough performance - this being their second film together, and the screenplay is also well thought out, I couldn't help feeling the direction needed to be a bit bolder to tell an unconventional love story that includes such an extreme character as Nicole. While totally agreeing with the casting choice, I feel Ms. Muti was ridiculously underused - both in terms of emotions and physicality. The camera and lighting is quite conservative, as is the signature sound track (it actually gets a bit annoying after a while) - I couldn't help thinking this is a great story what would have sparkled in the hands of a Ingmar Bergman or Marco Ferreri. While this certainly isn't my first choice film for introducing the incomparable Ornella Muti to the site, it remains the very reason I even purchased the DVD. And for Ms. Muti's sake alone, this is Recommended Viewing.

Amazon DVD Link

About the recommended DVD:
This is not the DVD I have but I'd rather recommend this because of these reasons - I'm certain mine isn't digitally remastered - it is obviously put together from various source material - you also have sudden changes in saturation, and even the sound pitch alters intermittently. Besides, the scenes between Ornella Muti and Ben Gazzara were originally shot in English, and later dubbed into Italian. So you might as well go for a UK version than the Italian-dubbed offering.




Compilation: Ornella Muti, Ben Gazzara, and Mimsy Farmer
Most of the scenes are in English so you should be able to follow without too much effort.



Scene Guide:

• No nudity - Nicole is 'rescued' from the sea, and gets noticed by Dino who later offers his blanket so she could get off her wet costume. Nicole is played by the gorgeous Ornella Muti in the prime of her youth.
• Nicole drops by Dino's to return the blanket, wearing little else, and things happen!
• No nudity - after seeing Dino with another woman, Nicole gets jealous and craves for some attention of her own, and decides to expose herself knicker-less in a Piazza. I presume it's not as uncommon for attractive women to expose themselves this way as one might think..! :)
• Nicole has the habit of writing about her escapades in a diary, which the girls at her sanatorium get to read, and a nasty welcoming party lay in wait...
• After Dino learns of Nicole's illness, he decides to leave town so she doesn't come looking for him during therapy, and takes his ex-girlfriend Valeria along. Valeria and Dino are played by the American Mimsy Farmer and Ben Gazzara respectively.
• Best of the lot - Nicole is now engaged to Dino when they travel to Paris. But after Nicole begins to doubt he may have been talking to a woman on the phone secretly, she switches to her 'attention-seeking' mode, and the lucky hotel steward gets an eyeful (and quite possibly a sleepless night too) :)
• Nicole's hallucinations start getting worse...
• She shaves off her hair after misinterpreting Dino's earlier remark - he had told her she had beautiful long hair, but she thought he was complaining about the long hair. When a shocked Dino tells her off, she switches to 'attention-seeking' mode again.
• Nicole returns to sea from whence she came...

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