Caresses (1998)
"Carícies" (original title)

Eleven episodes portray different encounters in a large city during the course of a single night towards the end of the millennium. A young man wants to stop living together with a young ... See full summary »

Director:

Ventura Pons

Writers:

Sergi Belbel (play), Sergi Belbel (screenplay),

Stars:

David Selvas, Laura Conejero, Julieta Serrano

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
David Selvas	...	Home jove
Laura Conejero	...	Dona jove
Julieta Serrano	...	Dona gran
Montserrat Salvador	...	Dona vella
Agustín González	...	Home vell
Naím Thomas	...	Nen (as Naïm Thomàs)
Sergi López	...	Home
Mercè Pons	...	Noia
Jordi Dauder	...	Home gran
Roger Coma	...	Noi
Rosa Maria Sardà	...	Dona
Jordi Cercós
Sandra Pascual
Guillermo Pardevila

Storyline

Eleven episodes portray different encounters in a large city during the course of a single night towards the end of the millennium. A young man wants to stop living together with a young woman because he believes that they no longer have anything to say to each other. The young woman goes to visit her mother, an elderly woman. She lives with an old lesbian who meets her homeless brother. She asks him to forgive her for having seduced his wife all those years ago, but the brother pretends not to know who she is. A young boy attacks the homeless man. At first he tells him about his wild nights, then he knocks him to the ground and steals the old man's ring. At home the young boy has a bath and asks his father to join him in the tub. The boy's father has a girlfriend, a young woman. He intends to end their relationship... Eleven interlocking scenes that involve two characters, one of whom carries forward into the next scene, until the chain comes full circle.

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Plot Keywords:

lesbian | city | homeless man | adultery | male frontal nudity | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Catalan

Release Date:

13 February 1998 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Caresses

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Els Films de la Rambla S.A., Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Song at the end: I would surrender to whoever who would take me

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Soundtracks

"Jo em donaria a qui em volgués"
Lyrics by Josep Palau i Fabre
Music by Maria del Mar Bonet
Performed by Maria del Mar Bonet

User Reviews

Interlocking Stories Of Pain And Anger

It has always struck me as odd why certain films are deemed worthy of praise while others are considered dreck not worthy of even a review. Carícies ranks as one of those "praise-worthy" arthouse films that gets airtime on such high calibre stations as Bravo and Showcase. But why?

A group of interlocking stories, connected by a character who interacts with a character from a previous story, fill out this two hour ramble of human misery.

Unless you've seen Carícies you would not begin to believe how low, morally, a film can sink. The film, quite literally, opens with a man violently assaulting his wife, then incredibly, it gets worse. Each little story is filled with one character physically or emotionally assaulting another character. And for no reason. The only real moment of reprieve from all this pain and anger comes when a man attempts to tell his ex-girlfriend about her hygiene problem. I admit I laughed but even that didn't feel right, it was at the characters expense. I felt like a bully after the scene had played itself out.

Carícies might be considered intelligent, artful cinema or whatever, but I'd rather watch Up The Creek any day. I'd much rather spend two hours in a sea of bad dialogue and silly humor rather than wallowing around in two hours of characters hurting each other for the sake of art.