Winner of the 1994 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Spanish comedy Belle Epoque is a sexy, romantic romp about an army deserter in 1931 Spain who takes refuge with an aging artist and his four beautiful daughters in a remote country villa. As the monarchy falls and the Spanish Civil War erupts, this farm becomes a refuge, an idyllic escape from the violence, offering brief peace for the handsome young soldier (Jorge Sanz), who is as enchanted by the daughters as they are with him. It’s hard to tell just who is seducing who as he ends up sleeping with each woman in turn: the widow (Miriam Diaz-Aroca), the flirt (Maribel Verdu), the tomboy (Ariadna Gil, who seduces him only after he puts on a dress for a costume party), and the youngest sister (Penelope Cruz), an innocent virgin who desperately wants to indulge in the pleasures that her sisters have already experienced. Much sweeter than this description makes it sound, director Fernando Trueba’s Belle Epoque has the sun-dappled beauty of an Impressionist painting, and the mix of comic innocence and romantic delight in this temporary Eden is poignantly set against the coming horrors. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Belle Epoque
Olive, 109 min., in Spanish w/English subtitles, R, DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray: $29.99 Volume 33, Issue 3
Belle Epoque
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