Belle Époque (film)

In February 1931, some weeks after the failed Jaca uprising and the likewise failed Cuatro Vientos uprising [es], Spain is on the verge of the proclamation of the Second Republic. Fernando, a deserting private with Republican leanings and former seminarist, is on the run from his assignment at the Cuatro Vientos base. After escaping from two Guardia Civil officers, he reaches the outskirts of a village, befriending Manolo, an old man with a semblance of a "Dickensian observer of life".^[4] Manolo owns a large house in the countryside, where Fernando stays for a while.

Upon the arrival of Manolo's four daughters in a train, Fernando is enchanted by them all. As he meets each of the first three one by one, he falls in love and has sex with each of them, determining to marry. With each one, however, a complication arises: Clara, a widow who only recently lost her husband and who seeks solace with Fernando; Violeta, a closeted lesbian who showed attraction for Fernando only when she saw him dressed as a woman for a costume ball, and the day after tells him that it was insignificant;^[5] and Rocío, a social climber who is about to marry Juanito and into the village's richest family (with Carlist leanings) for the security it would provide, and who only momentarily succumbs to Fernando's charms.

Heartbroken each time, the father of the girls encourages Fernando to have patience. Each daughter is beautiful and represents a different aspect of feminine sexuality. The youngest of the family, Luz, represents naïveté. While Fernando is pursuing her sisters, Luz gets progressively angry and jealous. Eventually, Fernando realizes, however, that Luz is the best one of the four to marry.

The film project originated in 1990 at a Madrid restaurant where Fernando Trueba, Rafael Azcona, and José Luis García Sánchez frequently met to discuss cinematic projects. The story contains autobiographical elements for Trueba, as the director’s real-life father-in-law is named Manolo—just like the father-in-law of the protagonist, who shares the director's first name, Fernando.

Before writing the screenplay, Trueba wanted to show Azcona and García Sánchez Jean Renoir’s Partie de campagne to illustrate the tone he envisioned for the film. From that movie—as well as from Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game—he drew the concept of main characters fleeing the city in search of a bucolic setting where primal instincts could surface.^[7]

Trueba wanted the story set at the beginning of the Second Spanish Republic, a period that represented a fleeting moment of hope and the promise of paradise—a promise that soon vanished. He explained that he never intended the film to serve as a parable of that historical era, nor did he want the setting to evoke any specific region of Spain.

A Spanish-Portuguese-French co-production, Belle Époque was produced by Fernando Trueba PC, Lola Films, Animatógrafo, and French Production with the collaboration of Sogepaq and Eurimages.^[8] The film was shot between July 5 and August 26, 1992 in several villages of Portugal.^[9] Trueba chose to shoot there because it was cheaper than filming in Spain^[7] (Trueba had a budget of only 160 million pesetas)^[10] and because the country had undergone fewer changes between that era and the present day. The house and village are located in Arruda dos Vinhos, the train station in Ríos, the church in Sobral de Monte Agraço, and the river in Azambuja.^[7]

The soundtrack was conducted by Antoine Duhamel and performed by the Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra at Kirios Studios in Madrid in November 1992, while the songs were performed by Mary Carmen Ramírez.^[11]

Box office

In Spain, it was the highest-grossing Spanish film of 1992 with a gross of over 725 million Spanish pesetas ($5.58 million).^[12] In the United States and Canada it grossed $6 million^[13] for a worldwide gross more than $11 million. The film was theatrically released in Spain on 4 December 1992.^[14]

Critical response

The film was positively received in multiple countries.^[15]

Contemporary critics have also spoken very positively of the film, with Yago García of Cinemanía writing that it "captured, like no other, the atmosphere of freedom that accompanied the proclamation of the new regime."^[16] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 22 reviews.^[17] The film is mentioned in the 2010 American film The Fighter.

Year-end lists

• Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, The Roanoke Times^[18]
• Honorable mentions – Mike Clark, USA Today^[19]

Accolades

More information Year, Award ...

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
1993	43rd Berlin International Film Festival	Golden Bear		Nominated	[20]
	7th Goya Awards	Best Film		Won	[21]
		Best Director	Fernando Trueba	Won
		Best Original Screenplay	Fernando Trueba José Luis García Sánchez, Rafael Azcona	Won
		Best Actress	Ariadna Gil	Won
		Best Actor	Jorge Sanz	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Chus Lampreave	Won
			Mary Carmen Ramírez	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	Fernando Fernán-Gómez	Won
			Gabino Diego	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	José Luis Alcaine	Won
		Best Editing	Carmen Frías	Won
		Best Art Direction	Juan Botella	Won
		Best Production Supervision	Cristina Huete	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Lala Huete	Nominated
		Best Makeup and Hairstyles	Ana Ferreira, Ana Lorena	Nominated
		Best Original Score	Antoine Duhamel	Nominated
		Best Sound	Alfonso Pino, Georges Prat	Nominated
1994	66th Academy Awards	Best Foreign Language Film		Won
1995	48th British Academy Film Awards	BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language		Nominated	[22]

Close

• List of Spanish films of 1992
• List of submissions to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Spanish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film