Tesis (1996)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Alejandro Amenábar

Writers:

Alejandro Amenábar (screenplay)
Alejandro Amenábar (story) ...

Release Date:

12 April 1996 (Spain)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Me llamo Ángela. Me van a matar. [English Tagline: My name is Angela. They're going to kill me.]

Plot:

While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty...

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Film School | Mutilation | Murder | Garage

Awards:

14 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Ana Torrent	...	Ángela
Fele Martínez	...	Chema
Eduardo Noriega	...	Bosco
Xabier Elorriaga	...	Castro
Miguel Picazo	...	Figueroa
Nieves Herranz	...	Sena
Rosa Campillo	...	Yolanda
Paco Hernández	...	Padre Angela (as Francisco Hernández)
Rosa Ávila	...	Madre Angela
Teresa Castanedo	...	Presentadora T.V.
José Miguel Caballero	...	Conserje Videoteca
Joserra Cadiñanos	...	Vigilante
Julio Vélez	...	Encargado tren
Pilar Ortega	...	Encargada C. Ventas
Olga Margallo	...	Vanessa

Also Known As:

Thesis (UK) (festival title) (USA) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong and perverse violent content, brief strong sexuality and strong language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Germany:18 (video premiere) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Las Producciones del Escorpión S.L.

Trivia:

Amenábar wrote some of this film while still at University, and that University was the Complutense, as featured in this film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When professor Figueroa finds the door to the secret library of snuff movies, before he enters, he wears glasses. In he next shot, as he enters the door, the glasses are gone, but they come back some shots after.

Quotes:

Ángela Márquez: My name is Angela. They're going to kill me.

Movie Connections:

References Notorious (1946)

Not Amenábar's best, but quite possibly the best film concerning the phenomenon of snuff films

I've seen all of Alejandro Amenábar's features, except for Mar Adentro. This is less "Hollywood" than The Others, but I do find Abre Los Ojos to be a better film than this one(have more flu-induced nightmares, Alejandro! Just kidding), more themes, perhaps. That is by no means to disregard this film... never. It is a well-done psychological horror-thriller of well-established moods and atmosphere, and the themes explored, the questions raised... the film is sure to spark debate. A feature directing debut, this fact is at times evident... it has a slow pace at times, and seemed to move at a rather bland pace throughout the film. It often jumps from a potentially exciting scene to a dull one, as well. I won't claim that the plot is ingenious... it's, in fact, almost more of a vehicle for the themes. It drives the film just fine, but if what you want is a well-crafted mystery or crime story, look elsewhere. The direction has clever moments, and is just about flawless, throughout. The film manages to be somewhat unpredictable, by having many scenes take unexpected turns, but the mystery was a little predictable, and too easy to figure out; who the villains were came as no real surprise. What I liked about it, what I really liked, was the way it questioned the idea of snuff films, and the way it further explored the reason snuff films exist... they didn't come out of nowhere or nothing, and this acknowledges that fact. It doesn't say that violence is wrong, nor does it claim that only mentally unstable people enjoy watching it... in fact, it takes a neutral stance on the subject, and lets the viewers decide for themselves... but not before showing us that even the most non-violent and emotionally stable person can - if only slightly - be driven towards watching and maybe even slightly enjoying violence, and/or being fascinated by death. Amenábar reaches out and pulls out everyone's dark side in this movie; no one who watches it will come out entirely without questioning their own thoughts about violence. The acting is good, the characters are generally well-written, the film manages to build up a lot of suspense(even though it is somewhat easy to figure out who the "bad guys" are) and tension(masterfully so). Near the middle of the film there is a truly claustrophobic sequence, which anyone suffering, even mildly, from claustrophobia will have a hard time getting through. The film carefully dodges most(!) of the typical Hollywood clichés, and manages to keep the film interesting and exciting, despite being somewhat poorly paced. All in all, a thriller which should be worthwhile to, well, pretty much anyone. It doesn't require you to be a certain age to understand it(though I will recommend that you are at least old and/or hardened enough to take the themes, and what violence is featured). This isn't about showing violence(I challenge anyone to claim or prove the violence herein can be classified as exploitative, by almost any standard), all the violence shown is there for a reason. I recommend it to fans of horror-thrillers, in particular psychological ones, fans of Amenábar's other work, and people who just like a movie to mess with their minds a little, and have their values screwed up a little. 8/10