The Girl of Your Dreams (1998)
"La niña de tus ojos" (original title)

A company of Spanish movie makers leaves Franco's Spain and moves to Hitler's Germany to make a film in co-production. Soon some problems start to arise...

Director:

Fernando Trueba

Writers:

Rafael Azcona, Miguel Ángel Egea,

Stars:

Penélope Cruz, Antonio Resines, Jorge Sanz

14 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Penélope Cruz	...	Macarena Granada
Antonio Resines	...	Blas Fontiveros
Jorge Sanz	...	Julián Torralba
Rosa Maria Sardà	...	Rosa Rosales
Santiago Segura	...	Castillo
Loles León	...	Trini Morenos
Jesús Bonilla	...	Marco Bonilla
Neus Asensi	...	Lucia Gandia
Miroslav Táborský	...	Václav Passer (as Mirosláv Táborský)
Johannes Silberschneider	...	Goebbels
Karel Dobrý	...	Leo
Götz Otto	...	Heinrich von Wermelskirch
Hanna Schygulla	...	Magda Goebbels
María Barranco	...	Embajadora
Juan Luis Galiardo	...	Embajador (as Juan Luís Galiardo)

Storyline

Corren los años 40. Una modesta compañía de cineastas españoles abandona la España de Franco trasladándose a la Alemania de Hitler, para realizar una película coproducida entre ambos países. Se trata de un musical de ritmos andaluces protagonizado por la actriz Macarena Granada y dirigido por Blas Fontiveros. El contraste de ideologías entre españoles y alemanes es bastante marcado, y ello no tarda en hacerse notar...

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner | jewish | spanish civil war | movie set | nazi | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content and language

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish German Russian

Release Date:

13 November 1998 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Girl of Your Dreams

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

€4,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Creativos Asociados de Radio y Televisión (CARTEL), Fernando Trueba Producciones Cinematográficas, Lolafilms

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on true events during the filming of Carmen, la de Triana and Nights in Andalusia, both starring Imperio Argentina.

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Connections

Referenced in Tuno negro (2001)

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Soundtracks

"La bien pagá"
Written by Ramón Perelló & Juan Mostazo
Performed by Penélope Cruz

User Reviews

GREAT FUN (BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE)

Without trying to offend anybody I have to agree with another reviewer in that an explanation for the bad reception of this film among the non-Spanish speakers reviewers was exactly that: Spanish is not their first language and this is sometimes, as another reviewer has pointed out, a difficult film to understand if you are not a native speaker. A full understanding of the dialogue would help to clarify some of the bizarre scenes in the film. It might not be the best script written by Rafael Azcona, without any doubt one of the best scriptwriters in the history of Spanish cinema, but at times it is hilarious. A better grasp of Spanish history and culture would also come quite handy. So what else can you say about Penelope Cruz in the scene where she dances and sings for Goebbels?. As one her shoe is missing, she unintentionally imitates Goebbles, as she approaches him in a frontal shot, who is lame.

Jokes on the Spanish fascist are more than just clichés. For example the cuckold Spanish ambassador played by Juan Luis Galiardo and his nymphomaniac wife, played by Maria Barranco. And the wisecracking remark made by the pro-fascist Spanish troupe leading man, Jorge Sanz, wooded by his German counterpart "Yo doy todo por mi patria menos mi culo", he would give anything for his country except his ass. They are both an amusing pisstaking on fascist patriotic macho culture. This subject of patriotism being a hot issue right now in Spain where the right-wing government of Aznar is endorsing the notion of "Patriotismo Constitucional" or Constitutional Patriotism developed by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas. Unashamedly, the film upholds the necessity to produce espanoladas. As the film director Blas Fontiveros, played by Antonio Resines, remarks that the life of a Spanish hero has more relevance to Spanish audiences, as they feel more identified, than for example Al Capone's. 5 Spanish (espanoladas) films were, in fact, made in Nazi Germany. Two starred by Imperio Argentina and another 2 by Estrellita Castro both stars of the "cine folclorico espanol".

As already remarked by some reviewers the film copies scenes from other films, the most obvious being its final sequence, which is a rip off of the end of Casablanca, but to suggest that it is a carbon copy of such and such a film is pure overstatement and a rather facile critique of the film. Yet its politics are not at all convincing, not to say rather naïve. The introduction of the Russian Jewish character signals the fall of the film into sentimental humanism and vacuous romantic trifle from where the film does not recover. Nevertheless La Nina de tus Ojos has its charms too and I found it extremely funny. The cast is excellent (Penelope Cruz playing an andalusian, a role she had already done in Almodovar's "Todo Sobre mi Madre" as a prostitute). Resines and Sanz are a surprise as well as Santiago Segura. But special mention deserves Miroslav Táborský, playing Vaclav the interpreter. Subtle looks at Macarena tell of his unrequited love for her. His increasing fascination with Macarena moves him away from his non-interventionist stand to resignedly accept his fate by the end of the film, along with Fontiveros who is Macarena's lover, at the hands of the Nazi. Yet this is never overdone as the change of views underwent by the other characters towards the Nazi regime, in particular the case of Julian Torralba. This little subplot of the film is quite moving rather sentimental and its quiet essence contrast sharply with the bombardment of dialogue coming from the rest of the cast.