Cinema
Torment
Tormento
Pedro Olea · 1974
Synopsis
Madrid, in the nineteenth century. Amparo, a poor young woman, lives with her sister in a state of half-servitude in the home of well-off relatives, the Bringas, a family of civil servants whose household she runs. The return from America of a wealthy relative, Agustín Caballero, throws the household into turmoil: Rosalía Bringas would like to marry him into her family, but it is Amparo whom he notices and courts. Yet Amparo hides a past, her affair with a priest, Pedro Polo, who reappears and threatens to compromise everything.
Context
The film adapts a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós published in 1884, one of those that open the cycle of contemporary Spanish novels, whose characters pass from one book to another; the heroine bears the nickname Tormento. Olea wrote it with Ricardo López Aranda, Ángel María de Lera and his producer José Frade, with whom he made four films from that year on. Ana Belén, Francisco Rabal and Concha Velasco play the leading roles. Released on 2 September 1974, it became its director's greatest success.
Who it is for
A costume drama, carried by its actors; the title is the nickname Galdós gave to his heroine.
Prizes and reception
Prize for best Spanish-language film at the San Sebastián festival in 1974; the most profitable Spanish film of the year; Fotogramas de Plata for Concha Velasco.
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