Eighth film session of the Luis García Berlanga retrospective, with the screening of Long Live the Bride and Groom (1970).

27 APR | SUN | 5PM

¡VIVAN LOS NOVIOS! | LONG LIVE THE BRIDE AND THE GROOM

Luis García Berlanga | ESP | 1970 | 83'

Despite being Luis García Berlanga's first color film, ¡Vivan los Novios! is often considered one of his darkest works. Leonardo is a middle-aged man, shy and subjugated by a domineering mother. His destiny seems set: to marry Loli, a woman chosen by his family, and lead a conventional life within the rigid standards of Francoist society. The arranged marriage represents the expectation of stability and conformism that is expected of him. Accompanied by his mother, Leonardo travels to Barcelona, where the wedding ceremony will take place. But in the hotel where they stay, he discovers a decadent atmosphere that begins to disturb his view of the world, showing him a much more complex reality than the predictable existence to which he seemed condemned. Everything becomes even more dramatic with the appearance of a seductive woman who awakens his doubts and repressed desires. What initially seemed like a journey to seal an already written destiny turns into a comical and disturbing nightmare, culminating in an unexpected crime that completely changes the course of events. In a claustrophobic setting that makes the struggle between individual desire and social impositions even more evident, ¡Vivan los novios! is a scathing satire of the repression and hypocrisy of the Franco regime, laying bare the contradictions of a society suffocated under the weight of appearances and tradition."