Gaudi Afternoon (2001)

Alone in a foreign city, Cassandra must solve a family's darkest, deepest secrets before she can confront her own past.

Director:

Susan Seidelman

Writers:

James Myhre, Barbara Wilson (novel)

Stars:

Judy Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Lili Taylor

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Judy Davis	...	Cassandra Reilly
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Frankie Stevens
Lili Taylor	...	Ben
Juliette Lewis	...	April
Courtney Jines	...	Delilah
María Barranco	...	Carmen
Christopher Bowen	...	Hamilton
Pep Molina	...	Paco
Víctor Álvaro	...	Juan
Steve Itkin	...	Harry (voice)
Sergi Ruiz	...	Carlos
Glòria Casas	...	Elisa
Aitor Extravizz	...	Esteban
Glòria Roig	...	Carmen's Mother
Saskia Lange	...	Maria

Storyline

Cassandra, a solitary writer in Barcelona (a US ex-pat) gets a call for help from a stranger - a stylish woman named Frankie - who wants Cassandra to find her husband, so he can sign some important papers. Nothing Frankie says is true: the husband turns out to be a woman, the issue isn't legal papers but a child's custody, and even Frankie's most obvious identity, in red cape and red pumps, is a false front. But Cassandra keeps at it, at first to earn her promised fee, and then to help Frankie, then Frankie's ex, then the child. Along the way, this solitary and somewhat disconnected and bewildered writer frees herself to finish a novel and re-establish a broken relationship.

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Plot Keywords:

child custody | gender bender | lesbian | barcelona spain | magician | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 July 2001 (South Africa)

Also Known As:

As Tardes de Gaudi

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Antena 3 Televisión, Lolafilms, Vía Digital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 93 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Hamilton: [about his date] You know I never would have guessed it.
Cassandra Reilly: Guessed what?
Hamilton: That she was a transexual
[Cassandra chokes on her drink]
Hamilton: Not that I'm judgemental mind you, people are all different - I'm bisexual for instance.
[She chokes again]
Hamilton: Oh I'm sorry, being Irish you must not be used to talking about bisexuals, let alone transvestities.

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Connections

References A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

User Reviews

A REAL GEM OF A MOVIE

Wonderfully, funny satire of gender bending with only a few slow parts when the screenwriter forgets we don't really need any serious moralizing in this kind of film.

Our plot has Judy Davis, as Cassandra, a sort of almost middle aged, expatriot writer living in Spain trying to finish her novel. She is hired by Frankie, a very sexy deserted wife, to track down her missing daughter because of her bilingual skills.

Things aren't exactly what they seem and we find that Frankie is actually the transsexual father of the missing child who is now living with her natural mother Ben, a lesbian, who is engaged in a 'menage a trois' with her bisexual lover Hamilton and 'their lover' April, wonderfully played by Juliette Lewis.

The confusion makes for some very funny lines that are so well played that the situation seems almost natural. The screenwriter goes somewhat adrift later on with some totally unnecessary reflections by Cassandra, who apparently has sexual identity problems of her own, but the film as a whole is just wonderfully refreshing when compared to most of today's "statement" films. Good soundtrack too.