Cinema
Nine Letters to Berta
Nueve cartas a Berta
Basilio Martín Patino · 1966
Synopsis
Salamanca, under Francoism. Lorenzo, a student, the son of a bank clerk who fought on Franco's side and of a devout mother, returns from a stay in England, where he fell in love with Berta, the daughter of an exiled Republican. He writes her nine letters. In them he describes his family, his fiancée, his friends, his classes, his Sundays at his uncles' and the motionless town, and tells of the boredom that takes hold of him, far from the freedom of speech he had known with her. Berta never appears on screen.
Context
The film opens with lines by Antonio Machado about the Spaniard who wants to live, between a Spain that is dying and a Spain that yawns, and it is divided into nine parts that are as many letters, each under a title. Patino freezes the image on moments, isolates frames and lingers in close-up on advertising signs. Shot in Salamanca and Madrid, with Emilio Gutiérrez Caba and Mary Carrillo, it is its author's first feature film, coming after several short films.
Who it is for
A black-and-white film made of letters read aloud and images of the city; everything turns on the gap between what Lorenzo lives and what he writes.
Prizes and reception
Silver Shell at the San Sebastián festival in 1966; the film is regarded as one of the standard-bearers of New Spanish Cinema.
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