Si te dicen que caí (1989)

In the post Spanish civil war years, Catalan kids would sit in circles among the ruins and tell stories, known as "aventis" (the film's original title in Catalan, its original language). ... See full summary »

Director:

Vicente Aranda

Writers:

Vicente Aranda, Juan Marsé (novel)

Stars:

Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz, Antonio Banderas

6 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Victoria Abril	...	Menchu / Ramona / Aurora Nin
Jorge Sanz	...	Daniel Javaloyes 'Java'
Antonio Banderas	...	Marcos
Javier Gurruchaga	...	Conrado-Señor Galán
Guillermo Montesinos	...	Fusam
Joan Miralles	...	Nadal
Ferran Rañé	...	Taylor
Lluís Homar	...	Palau
Carlos Tristancho	...	Sendra
Juan Diego Botto	...	Sarnita
María Botto	...	Fueguiña
Luis Giralte	...	Luis
Marc Barahoma	...	Mingo
Ariadna Navarro	...	Juanita
Cesáreo Estébanez	...	Ñito

Storyline

In the post Spanish civil war years, Catalan kids would sit in circles among the ruins and tell stories, known as "aventis" (the film's original title in Catalan, its original language). These tales mix war stories, local gossip, comic book characters, fantasy and real events. The "aventis" told in this film are told in flashback. In the mid 80s, 45 or so years after the age of the "aventis," a doctor and a nurse-nun (who grew up together, and now are co-workers in a hospital) identify the corpse of one of the main characters of the "aventis" of their childhood and adolescence. Besides the interesting flashbacks - a chronical of the Civil War in a "typical" Barcelona microcosm itself, the discovery of this body (belonging to someone long presumed dead) leads to other surprises and unresolved doubts, several decades later.

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Plot Keywords:

aventis | flashback | catalan | surprise | comic book | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | War

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish Catalan

Release Date:

19 September 1989 (Spain)

Also Known As:

If They Tell You I Fell

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 115,993,370 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ideas y Producciones Cinematográficas (IPC), Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in ¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz?: Banda sonora (2010)

User Reviews

Vicente Aranda is like the Spanish verb "erguir" - impossible to conjugate

Aranda has directed a few things which might be worth talking about, or even mentioning; but he has also made a few films which I prefer to forget about, like........um......like.......I can't remember.

"Aventis" belongs to this category. If starting off from the fact that the novelist Juan Marsé has very little intellectually o literary going for him, if Jorge Sanz has never pleased me in anything at all, and Victoria Abril has satisfied me occasionally as being an actress (and not merely a sex-object), for example in "Bicicletas son para el verano, Las" (1984), "Pazos de Ulloa, Los" (1985) (mini), or Tiempo de silencio (1986), you might be ready to accept that apart from a vague story-line which seems to meander between nowhere and somewhere else, the sight of Jorge Sanz having sex "doggy style" with Victoria Abril, is about as appetising as eating live cockroach sandwiches for breakfast.

Too much tits, bums and testicles for my liking. Near pornography in classification. Poor stuff: just in case some of you reading my comments think I praise all Spanish films. I do not: some are dreadful. "Aventis" (Si te dicen que caí) is one of them.