Cinema
Demons in the Garden
Demonios en el jardín
Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón · 1982
Synopsis
A village in Spain, in the early years of Francoism. Doña Gloria rules over her family and over the grocery shop, called the Garden, which she runs with her eldest son, Óscar. On the day of Óscar's wedding to Ana, the banquet turns into a brawl between the two brothers; Juan, the younger, leaves to try his luck in Madrid and leaves behind his cousin Ángela, who is pregnant. Years later, Juanito, Ángela's child, falls ill and comes to recover at the Garden, at his grandmother's, where he discovers the secrets of a singular family.
Context
The director said he told in it of his childhood, which was that of many Spaniards of his time, through a child who witnesses everything going on around him. He wrote the film with his producer, Luis Megino, and conceived the two roles of young women for Ángela Molina and Ana Belén, the two most prominent actresses of the moment; Imanol Arias and Encarna Paso complete the cast. The film shows a family of rural Spain prospering thanks to the black market in the aftermath of the war. Presented at San Sebastián on 23 September 1982, it was released in France in 1987.
Who it is for
A family drama, partly seen from a child's height; politics appears only through its effects on the life of a household.
Prizes and reception
Golden Shell at the San Sebastián festival in 1982; International Critics' Prize at the Moscow festival.