El sur (1983)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Víctor Erice

Writers:

Víctor Erice (writer)
Adelaida García Morales (novel)

Release Date:

13 February 1986 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Sur est un seul et grand Tango

Plot:

The movie tells a melancholic story of a little girl who is living in a city in the north. She is fascinated...

Plot Keywords:

Post War | Based On Novel

Awards:

5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Omero Antonutti	...	Agustín Arenas
Sonsoles Aranguren	...	Estrella, 8 years
Icíar Bollaín	...	Estrella, 15 years
Lola Cardona	...	Julia, Agustín's wife
Rafaela Aparicio	...	Milagros
Aurore Clément	...	Irene Ríos / Laura
Francisco Merino	...	Irene Ríos's Co-Star
Maria Caro	...	Casilda
José Vivó	...	Grand Hotel barman
Germaine Montero	...	Doña Rosario

Also Known As:

El sur (USA)
Le sud (France)
The South (Europe: English title) (informal literal title)

Runtime:

Spain:95 min

Country:

Spain | France

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Spain:T | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Estella, Navarra, Spain

Company:

Chloë Productions

Trivia:

Voted sixth best Spanish film by professionals and critics in 1996 Spanish cinema centenary.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Huellas de un espíritu (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

La puerta del Sagrario

The phases of the murky relationship between a girl and her father, set in misty, northern post-war Spain.

This story unfolds in delicate time in the history of modern Spain, as well as during a precarious time in the life of a family.

Adolescent Estrella lives in awe of her mysterious and magical father, wonderfully played by Omero Antonutti, and weary of her ever-practical mother and of their isolated life in the misty and brooding northern countryside. Estrella's fascination with her father turns to intrigue- and then to obsession- when she discovers that her father has a secret, and realizes that she is only one facet of her father's life and not the central figure, as he is to her.

After a ray of sunshine is cast into her dark and insular life by the visit of one of her father's aunts (played by the late Rafaela Aparicio in one of her best roles), Estrella yearns to capture more of the essence of her father by one day visiting "el sur" (the south)—his home territory.

As Estrella enters the awkward realm of adolescence, she grows apart from her father emotionally. A tragic turn of events condemns him to remain a mythical figure for her—someone she wonders if she ever knew at all. The supreme irony is that she is very like him.

This film is captivating, both visually and emotionally, and the audience becomes just as absorbed in the story as the characters themselves. It is one of those films whose imagery will always stay in one's memory, such as in the my favorite scene, where father and daughter sit distantly across a table from each other in an old café, listening to the eerie sound of a "pasodoble" that wafts from a wedding in another room, bringing memories of happier, simpler days.