Oviedo Express

The plot was reportedly inspired on Stefan Zweig's Fear, although barely anything of the work (the nexus with the intrigue if at all) is identifiable in the film.^[1][2] A troupe of thespians moves to Oviedo to stage a play based on La Regenta. Mariola Mayo is the leading actress performing the stage role of La Regenta/Ana Ozores.^[3] The Mayor of Oviedo has an affair with journalist Bárbara Ruiz.^[4][5] Emma (a nod to Madame Bovary's character), the scorned spouse of the Mayor of Oviedo and a young scholar preparing a PhD dissertation on La Regenta, portrays a sort of Regenta-like in-fiction character.^[5] Emma has sexual intercourse with Benjamín Olmo, the leading actor of the play.^[6][1]

The project was originally titled Érase una vez Oviedo.^[10] The film was shot in Oviedo in 2006.^[10]

The film was theatrically released in Spain on 31 October 2007.^[11]

Alberto Bermejo of El Mundo rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that "above many other things, 'Oviedo Express' is very funny, even though it is much more than a comedy", with additional superimposed layers of farce, vaudeville, melodrama, and caricature, also featuring a cast of actors taking risks "in unusual registers" delivering the elaborated and "highly personal" dialogues of Gonzalo Suárez.^[12]

Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be "a typically eccentric dramedy" and (so much) "over-the-top", featuring a "bunch of fine Spanish actors overacting for all they're worth".^[4]

• List of Spanish films of 2007