Más que amor, frenesí (1996)

Directors:

Alfonso Albacete
Miguel Bardem

Writers:

Alfonso Albacete (writer)
Miguel Bardem (writer)

Release Date:

15 November 1996 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

...existen otras cosas aparte del sexo?

Plot Keywords:

Drag Queen | Gigolo | Unsafe Sex | Shower Scene | Drugs

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Nancho Novo	...	Max
Cayetana Guillén Cuervo	...	Mónica
Ingrid Rubio	...	Yeye
Beatriz Santiago	...	María
Gustavo Salmerón	...	Alberto
Javier Manrique	...	Luis
Javier Albalá	...	Álex
Liberto Rabal	...	David
Bibiana Fernández	...	Cristina (as Bibí Andersen)
Juan Diego Botto	...	Carlos
Daniel Mirabal	...	Divva
Juanfra Becerra	...	Doly
Paloma Tabasco	...	Jacky
Nuria Gallardo	...	Clara
Carlos Bardem	...	Miguel

Also Known As:

Not Love, Just Frenzy

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Canal+ España

Movie Connections:

References Gone with the Wind (1939)

Soundtrack:

A quién le importa

Blood, sex and bodily fluids - outrage to the max!!

NOT LOVE, JUST FRENZY (Más que Amor Frenesí)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

Staff and customers of a popular Madrid nightclub - gay, straight and everything in between - are thrown into disarray by the arrival of a stranger (Nancho Novo) whose life is threatened by a corrupt cop (Javier Manrique) seeking to connect him with a brutal murder.

Despite a lack of focus in its early stages and a couple of disappointing plot twists, this outrageous romp plays Almodóvar at his own game and comes up trumps. Co-written and directed by Miguel Bardem and debut filmmakers Alfonso Albarete and David Menkes (I LOVE YOU BABY), the movie features some of Spain's sexiest rising stars - including popular actress/TV presenter Cayetana Guillén Cuervo (STORIES FROM THE KRONEN) as a trampy nightclub owner with the hots for Novo, and Gustavo Salmerón (99.9) as the eternal party-boy who dumps his deceitful boyfriend Javier Albalá (SECOND SKIN) to pursue an impossible infatuation with the unattainable, ultra-beautiful Liberto Rabal (LIVE FLESH) - and includes cameo appearances by Penelope Cruz (blink and you'll miss her), Javier Bardem (ditto) and Almodovar favorite Bibi Andersen as a lesbian pimp (!).

The script combines sure-fire commercial elements (unrequited love, sexual betrayal, nymphomania, etc.) with layers of melodramatic excess (the gigolo who swears he was framed for murder, the psycho cop determined to nail him come what may), and the movie indulges an exhilarating sexual candor, including a heated exchange between Salmerón and Albalá in a shower, Novo and Guillén Cuervo enjoying a wild encounter in front of a bank of video monitors, and - in the film's most romantic episode - Rabal's full-frontal nude scene on a rooftop at midnight. All in all, voyeurs will certainly get their money's worth! About halfway through, however, the movie surrenders its 'gay' credentials and descends into mere 'camp', dropping several interesting plot threads to focus on Manrique's increasingly psychotic behavior as he launches a series of violent assaults on the primary female characters (the final sequence is a jaw-dropping combination of sex, death and bodily fluids!). Still, the movie is well-played by an engaging young cast (watch out for the lovely shot of Guillén Cuervo sweeping down a crowded high street in a billowing Victorian-style party dress!), and most viewers will be impressed by the filmmakers' refusal to compromise their eccentric ideals.

(Spanish dialogue)