Celos (1999)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Vicente Aranda

Writers:

Álvaro del Amo (writer)
Vicente Aranda (writer)

Release Date:

3 September 1999 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A month before he's to marry Carmen, Antonio finds a photograph of a man with his arm on her shoulder...

Plot Keywords:

Voyeurism | Female Nudity

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	...	Carmen
Daniel Giménez Cacho	...	Antonio
María Botto	...	Cinta Vidal
Luis Tosar	...	Luis
Alicia Sánchez	...	Madre
Pepo Oliva	...	Padre
Carlos Kaniowsky	...	Féculas (as Carlos Kaniowski)
Andrés Lima	...	Mirindas
Empar Ferrer	...	Modista
Itziar Miranda	...	Trini
Aitor Merino	...	Chico Autoestop
Marta Belenguer	...	Chica empaquetadora 3
Silvio Pullani	...	José
Joan Gadea	...	Dueño zapatería
Trinidad Rugero	...	Chona

Also Known As:

Jealousy (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Spain:18 | USA:Unrated

Movie Connections:

References Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Vague and pointless

I've always liked Giménez Cacho's work. He's usually a solid actor but, in this one, he looks like a zombie; and it's not because his part demanded so but for the weakness of the screenplay. If we are talking about jealous (a thing this movie is based on), it should be reflected almost in an animal way; it's about instinct and reactions right from the guts, blind rage and a mad love one step shy of hurting the one you care about. In Aranda's film, this is treated just as a matter of personality, like an accident in life or even in the way you may perceive things. My guess is that since the film doesn't go far beyond the words on paper --to a place where it should actually reach, considering the complexity of the main plot--, this was a no win chance for Cacho as well as Gijón; and everyone else involved too.

The main problem of Celos (Jealous) is that you don't buy the story right from the start because it's impossible to. No matter how willing you are to get INTO the movie, you cant; it´s a fact. Mainly because if you have been a witness on how somebody's extreme jealous makes his life a living hell, then you'll realize how hollow the subject is taken here. And besides being a terrible state of mind it's also a common one, so I think it's not that strange to have known somebody like that. But in the film there's no passion, it lacks real visceral reactions and wiser ways to show a conflicted mind (at least one better than just a man talking to himself). The only way they let us know how really obsessed is this guy (Cacho) with one of his fiancee past relationship, is by showing him traveling long distances and talking to weird persons to get to find the ex boyfriend, which would lead to an answer and then to a cure for his torture; that's the way he sees it.

I believe the message here is that a real deep love may hurt the other person if you don't keep your mouth shut to not let go out your worst doubts from the past, and then inflict an unnecessary pain on your partner. Just give and take love as it is. Realize that, if you're not a teen, then all of your relationships got to be second hand. Just take a look over your shoulder and take a count on yours. But, as I said before, if Celos doesn't make an impact on us is because it suffers from a severe lack of real human factor: serious reactions, flesh and blood bodies and lots of pain, something that cannot be felt without depth in dialogues and believable stages of grief. In it's whole atmosphere it sure fails, but is not an awful movie; nevertheless, in terms of depth, tension, twists and intensity, it's vague and pointless, so you may find it kind of boring every now and then through the experience.