El rey pasmado (1991)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Imanol Uribe

Writers:

Joan Potau (writer)
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (novel)

Release Date:

1 November 1991 (Spain)

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

11 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

María Barranco	...	Lucrecia
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Almeida
Laura del Sol	...	Marfisa
Gabino Diego	...	King
Juan Diego	...	Villaescusa
Fernando Fernán Gómez	...	Gran inquisidor
Alejandra Grepi	...	Doña Bárbara
Javier Gurruchaga	...	Valido
Eusebio Poncela	...	Conde de la Peña Andrade
Anne Roussel	...	Queen
Luis Barbero	...	Ferrán de Valdivieso
Emma Cohen	...	Duquesa Viuda del Maestrazgo
Christine Dejoux	...	Colette
Carme Elias	...	Abesse
Eulalia Ramón	...	Paca Tavora

Also Known As:

Le roi ébahi (France)
O Rei Pasmado (Portugal)
The Dumbfounded King (International: English title)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Spain | France | Portugal

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company:

Aiete Films S.A.

A wonderful film that didn't make it to the US

This movie is about a Spanish king in the middle ages who decides one day that he'd like to see his wife naked. Gasp! The courtiers are appalled; his wife says ... "Why not?"; and the church begins an investigation. Out of all the hoohah over what today seems an ordinary request, only one man stands up for the king -- a Jesuit priest. The movie's depiction of the various reactions to the king's request is always interesting, and sometimes fascinating. It's a stylish, colorful production, and never lacks for beauty. The only problem I had with it was that I saw it in Paris, in Spanish with French subtitles, and so I probably missed half the jokes. Not all of them -- there are some wonderful visual jokes, like the man whose wife wants the church's permission to have sex with him, so the couple goes to a convent and has sex surrounded by a circle of nuns (all of them discreetly facing away, of course).