Jamón, Jamón (1992)

When a mother disapproves of her daughter's lover, she hires an underwear model and former bullfighter to seduce her daughter.

Director:

Bigas Luna

Writers:

Cuca Canals, Bigas Luna

Stars:

Penélope Cruz, Stefania Sandrelli, Anna Galiena

6 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Propietaria fabrica ropa
Anna Galiena	...	Prostituta
Juan Diego	...	El padre
Penélope Cruz	...	Silvia
Javier Bardem	...	Raul
Jordi Mollà	...	El novio de Silvia (as Jordi Molla)
Tomás Martín	...	Amigo Raúl (as Tomás Penco)
Armando del Río	...	Amigo José Luis
Diana Sassen	...	Amiga Silvia
Chema Mazo	...	Padre de Silvia
Isabel de Castro Oros	...	Hermana Silvia
Nazaret Callao	...	Hermana Silvia
Marianne Hermitte	...	La chica del perro en el puticlub
Nadia Godoy	...	La que canta en el puticlub
María Reniu	...	Chica en puticlub

Storyline

Jose Luis is an executive at his parents underwear factory where his girlfriend Sylvia works on the shop floor. When Sylvia falls pregnant, Jose Luis promises her that he will marry her, most likely against the wishes of his parents. Jose Luis' mother is determined to break her son's engagement to a girl from a lower-class family, and hires Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter to seduce Sylvia.

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Plot Keywords:

male full frontal nudity | underwear | brothel | factory | lust | 

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Taglines:

Winner of the Silver Lion Award Venice Film Festival

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

February 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Tale of Ham and Passion

Filming Locations:

Fraga, Huesca, Aragón, Spain

Box Office

Gross USA:

$938,473

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lolafilms,Ovídeo TV S.A.,Sogepaq

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Spanish, the word "jamón" means ''ham'', while a ''jamona'' is a ''spinster"

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Crazy Credits

Stefania Sandrelli - la madre puta; Anna Galiena - la puta madre; Penélope Cruz - la hija de puta

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Connections

Featured in Bigas Luna: The entomologist gaze (2008)

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Soundtracks

Las perlas de Conchita
Written by Mauro Endara
Performed by Los Melódicos
Edited by Max Box and Dial Discos, S.A.

User Reviews

Ham to Ham Combat

Jamón, jamón is a dark, sexy, disturbing and very sarcastic romance, that mercilessly satirizes Spanish mentality and culture, though it can't in all honestly be labeled a comedy. It's no surprise that its most passionate advocates, as well as critics, are Spanish; but to the non-Spanish viewer, it's still an entertaining and captivating film. Unfortunately, it suffers from an amateurish execution that sometimes makes it feel more like a Spanish soap opera than a feature, and since the satire will go over many viewers' heads, the poor character development, melodramatic and unconvincing acting, and often mishandled cinematography may be quite off-putting. Director Bigas Luna clearly shares many passions and tastes with the more world-famous Pedro Almodóvar, but he can't match Almodóvar artistry and visual flair; the heavy-handed symbolism, quirky sexuality and scenes that are apparently weird for the sake of weird make it feel like an Almodóvar rip-off (which it's not) and make it harder to appreciate the stronger scenes and the biting satire.

For non-Spanish viewers, the film's main draw is getting to see Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem very early in their careers; while their top-billing position make it look like Stefania Sandrelli and Anna Galiena are the stars (probably because they were much bigger names in 1992) Cruz and Bardem are not only the real leads but also provide the film's best acting by far, so much so that whenever the scene cuts to one where neither one appears, the TV-soap feeling is suddenly much more pronounced - Sandrelli, Galiena and Jordi Mollà are ludicrously over-the-top, which is part of the point, but Cruz and Bardem manage to transcend that ludicrousness and their characters' flatness and are enough to make the film flow quite well. Fans of either one should definitely check it out; for them or for anyone else, it's a memorable and unusual film, worth your time, but very flawed and should not be approached with very high expectations.