Amor idiota (2004)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Ventura Pons

Writers:

Lluís-Anton Baulenas (novel)
Ventura Pons (adaptation)

Release Date:

11 February 2005 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Harassment | Falling In Love | Godfather | Based On Novel

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Santi Millán	...	Pere-Lluc
Mercè Pons	...	Jordina
Marc Cartes	...	Àlex
Jordi Dauder	...	Benet
Gonzalo Cunill	...	Nicco
Andrea Fantoni	...	Vera
Cayetana Guillén Cuervo	...	Sandra
Héctor Mas	...	Ajudant
Pere Tomàs	...	Marit
Xavi Fernández	...	Hostaler
Maria Lanau	...	Noia radical
Carmen Turpin	...	Noia ocasional 1
Heidi García	...	Noia ocasional 2
Lourdes Barba	...	Helena (as Lurdes Barba)
Sophie Evans	...	Noia ocasional 3

Also Known As:

Idiot Love (Australia) (TV title)

Runtime:

Spain:104 min | Argentina:104 min

Country:

Andorra | Spain

Language:

Spanish | Catalan

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Spain:13 | Brazil:18 | Argentina:16 | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

waste of 104 minutes

Although the actors do a convincing job playing the losers that parade across the screen, the fact that these characters are impossible to identify with had me looking at my watch a mere 20 minutes into the film (and more than once after that). The plot development is disjointed and slow, the verbal diarrhoea of the main character's only friend is practically insufferable, the base quality of most of the characters actions and the cavalier way in which they are treating is annoying.

It is typical of Ventura Pons to put forth crass psychologically handicapped characters. However, this faux sociological analysis is a big step down from CARICIAS or Caresses, where the characters maltreat and despise each other for well founded reasons that play out during that film. In AMOR IDIOTA we are forced to follow the meanderings of a truly subnormal intelligence as he stalks a severely depressed and detached woman. Supposedly this is due to his own depression but the script doesn't support that. I won't give away the rest of the story just in case there are any masochists out there… Is he cured through his obsession or is the woman shocked out of her own depression through his unwavering attention? Even though I watched the whole thing I wasn't made to care even for a moment about either of them.

If you can sit through all this prejudice, ignorance, betrayal, BAD dialogue, flimsy philosophy, etc… the camera-work was pretty good and seems to be something inspired by the DOGMA group. The makeup also seemed to aim at showing these players in a raw and gritty light as it is the worst I've seen Cayetana Guillen Cuervo in any of her movies (while in person she is actually attractive).

I suppose if the idea is that we should be forced to see the lower strata of society so we can be grateful we are not part of it then Pons has achieved his objective. The barrage of nearly identical sex scenes was a proper waste of film (if the actors had been filmed but once in blue green clothing the background behind them could have been changed in the special effects studio for a pittance). True that I heard much of the male audience squirm in their seats during this but an objective viewing proves that was not the real aim of those scenes.

Save yourselves and watch something else.