La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro

Infobox_Film
name = La Muchacha de Las Bragas de Oro


caption =
director = Vicente Aranda
producer = José Antonio Perez Giner
Carlos Durán
writer = Vicente Aranda
Santiago San Miguel
Mauricio Wallerstein
starring = Lautaro Murúa
Victoria Abril
Hilda Vera
cinematography = José Luis Alcaine
editing = Alberto Torija
distributor = Morgana Films
released = flagicon|Spain 28 March, 1980
runtime =
language = Spanish
budget =
runtime = 105 min.
country = Spain
imdb_id = 0079586|

" La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro" (English: " Girl with the Golden Panties") is a 1980 Spanish Film directed by Vicente Aranda. It stars Victoria Abril and Lautaro Murúa. The film was based upon a novel by Catalonian author Juan Marsé. "La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro" explores the changing nature of a former fascist, a reflection of Spain facing its past during Franco’s regime. The film exhibits a sexual frankness which was off-limits in Spanish films made before 1975.

Plot

Luis Forest, an aging Falangist writer, has retired to Sitges to devote himself to review his past, write his memoirs and ruminate over his failed marriage. He feels guilty because of his political past and lives in virtual isolation in his large house accompanied only by his dog, and Tesla, the housekeeper.

His isolation is suddenly interrupted by the unexpected visit of his niece, Mariana. Young and wildly carefree, Mariana has arrived with the excuse to make an interview to his uncle about the biographical book his writing. The reportage would appear in the magazine where she works with her aunt, Sole, Luis’ estranged wife. Mariana has not seen her uncle in many years and is happy in his company. She has arrived with a mysterious silent photographer, a male friend of foreign origin by the name of Elmyr. They shake up Luis' staid world. Mariana and Elmyr have a close relationship; they argue frequently, smoke some drugs together and it is evident that they are also lovers. Elmyr, makes golden panties on Mariana’s body with paint.

Mariana’s mother calls Luis, to prevent him in case her daughter is in the company of Elmyr, who she describes as an in balance, drug addict of suicidal tendencies. She also tells Luis that her sister, Sole, Luis’ wife, has died unexpectedly. There is not need for him to worry about funeral arrangement since Sole has already been buried and their four children do not want to see him.

Flashbacks, tell the story of Luis Forest when he was young. He was smitten with Mari, Mariana's mother, and her sister, Sole. He was first courting Mari, but one dark night by the piano, he made love to Sole thinking that it was her sister. That fact eventually led him to marry Sole. Their marriage was not happy, in spite of Sole’s efforts, and she ended up leaving her husband years ago. The other sister, Mariana’s mother, in a time in which she was drinking a lot, had a one night stand with Luis, her brother in law. However, shortly after, she married, José Maria Tey, Luis’ close friend.

The past that Luis is preserving in his memoirs is more fiction than true. He is rewriting the facts, inventing many and softening many more. His book of memoir is full of lies, that his nice soon discovers when she offers him to type the manuscript. Slowly, Mariana's taunting and teasing breaks down Luis’ intellectual barriers and as that happen she becomes more interested in him.

Elmyr is not really a man, but, a female friend of fragile psychology and suicidal tendencies. Both, Mariana and Elmyr, have also male lovers that they bring to the house. One night, while Mariana is out in the town, Luis expels Elmyr from the house. Mariana is initially very upset but she calms down kowing that Elmyr is safe in Ibiza.

Alone with her uncle, Mariana begins a game of seduction, until Luis succumbs. When Mariana’s mother (the writer’s sister in law) comes to visit, worried about what he can say about her in his memoirs, it is revealed that Mariana is in fact his daughter. Luis feels guilty of the incestuous relationship they have had and tries to commit suicide.

Cast

*Lautaro Murúa - Luis Forest
*Victoria Abril - Mariana
*Hilda Vera - Mariana’s mother
*Perla Vonacek - Elmyr
*Pep Munné - young Luis Forest
*José María Lana. - José María Tey
*Isabel Mestres - Sol
*Raquel Evans - Mari
*Consuelo de Nieva - Tecla

Production

Director Vicente Aranda had hoped to make a film about the Spanish Civil War, but due to expense this project would have to wait until when he finally filmed it as Libertarias. Vera, "Vicente Aranda", p. 118 ] Instead Aranda turned to the new novel by Catalonian author Juan Marsé, just out and a controversial winner of the 1979 Premio Planeta ( the Spanish Booker Prize). Vera, "Vicente Aranda", p. 119 ]

"La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro" was to be made cheaply in just a few interiors settings. Aranda upped the budget with money from Venezuelan producers and added exterior locations to the script, thereby allowing the film to function in terms of calculated chiaroscuro that alternates light and shadow as an illustration of the truth and lies of the protagonist. Stone, "Spanish Cinema", p. 117 ]

Notes

Bibliography:

*Cánovás Belchí, Joaquín (ed.), Varios Autores,: "Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda", Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, 2000.P. Madrid
*Colmena, Enrique: "Vicente Aranda", Cátedra, Madrid, 1986, ISBN 84-376-1431-7
*Guarner, José Luis: "El Inquietante Cine de Vicente Aranda", Imagfic, D.L.1985
*Stone, Robe," Spanish Cinema", Pearson Education, 2002, ISBN 0-582-437156
*Vera, Pascual: "Vicente Aranda", Ediciones J.C, Madrid, 1989,

External links

*imdb title|0079586