''Belle Époque'' is a 1992 comedy-drama film directed by

Fernando Trueba Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish book editor, screenwriter, film director and producer. Between 1974 and 1979, he worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper ''El País''. ...

. Consisting of a fable-like story, primarily displaying a warm tone, and set in an idyllic countryside location during the transition to the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

, the film features

Jorge Sanz Jorge Sanz Miranda (born 26 August 1969) is a Spanish actor and one of the most prominent actors of the Spanish cinema since the 1980s. He is known to international audiences for his roles in the films: '' Amantes'' (1991) by director Vicente Ara ...

Maribel Verdú María Isabel Verdú Rollán (; born 2 October 1970) is a Spanish actress. Some of her film credits include performances in '' Lovers'', ''Belle Époque'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Pan's Labyrinth'', '' The Blind Sunflowers'' and ''Snow Whi ...

Ariadna Gil Ariadna Gil Giner (; born 23 January 1969) is a Spanish actress. She is known for her performances in films such as ''Belle Époque'' (for which she won the Goya Award for Best Actress), ''Black Tears'' and ''Pan's Labyrinth''. Career Film dire ...

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British ...

Miriam Díaz Aroca Margarita Miriam Díaz Aroca (born 4 March 1962, in Madrid) is a Spanish actress and television presenter. Biography Miriam Díaz Aroca was born on 4 March 1962 in Madrid but grew up in Santander (Cantabria). She studied Journalism in Compl ...

Fernando Fernán Gómez Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007) better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez was a Spanish actor, screenwriter, film director, theater director and member of the Royal Spanish Academy for seven years. He was born i ...

Gabino Diego Gabino Diego Solís is a Spanish actor, born on 18 September 1966 in Madrid. He was educated at Runnymede College, in Madrid. His credits include: ¡Ay Carmela! and Belle Époque. Awards *Goya Awards **1999 - Nominated - Best Actor for '' ...

and Chus Lampreave, among others. It received the

Goya Award for Best Film The Goya Award for Best Picture ( es, Premio Goya a la mejor película) is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. The category was first awarded in 1986 to Fernando Fernán Gómez's drama film ''Voyage to Nowhere''. Sever ...

along with eight other Goya Awards and was named

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

66th Academy Awards The 66th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1993 and took place on March 21, 1994, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p. ...

. It is a joint production among companies from Spain, Portugal and France.

Plot

In February 1931, some weeks after the failed

Jaca uprising The Jaca uprising ( es, Sublevación de Jaca) was a military revolt on 12–13 December 1930 in Jaca, Huesca, Spain, with the purpose of overthrowing the monarchy of Spain. The revolt was launched prematurely, was poorly organized and was quickly s ...

and the likewise failed , 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 The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the au ...

officers, he reaches the outskirts of a village, befriending Manolo, an old man with a semblance of a "Dickensian observer of life". 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

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

who is attracted to Fernando only when he is dressed as a woman for a costume ball and Rocío, a social climber who is about to marry to Juanito 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 of the daughters 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.

Cast

Production

A Spanish-Portuguese-French co-production, ''Belle Époque'' was produced by Fernando Trueba PC, Lola Films, Animatógrafo and French Production with collaboration of Sogepaq and

Eurimages Eurimages is a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, established in 1989. Eurimages promotes independent filmmaking by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation, and documentary films. In doing so, it encourages c ...

. The film was shot in the of 1992 in several villages of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Release

The film was theatrically released in Spain on 4 December 1992.

Critical reception

''Belle Époque'' received positive reviews getting a 93% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. The film is mentioned in the 2010 American film ''

The Fighter ''The Fighter'' is a 2010 American biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and stars Mark Wahlberg (who also produced), Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. The film centers on the lives of professional boxer M ...

''.

Year-end lists

* Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, ''

The Roanoke Times ''The Roanoke Times'' is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Lee Enterprises. In addition to its headquarters in Roanoke, it maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, ...

'' * Honorable mentions – Mike Clark, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

Box office

In Spain it was the highest-grossing Spanish film of 1992 with a gross of over 725 million

Spanish peseta The peseta (, ), * ca, pesseta, was the currency of Spain between 1868 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a ''de facto'' currency used in Andorra (which had no national currency with legal tender). Etymology The name of th ...

s ($5.58 million). In the United States and Canada it grossed $6 million for a worldwide gross in excess of $11 million.

Accolades

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43rd Berlin International Film Festival The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1993. The Golden Bear was awarded to American-Taiwanese film '' The Wedding Banquet'' directed by Ang Lee and Chinese film '' Xiāng hún nǚ'' directed by Xie ...

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Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

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7th Goya Awards The 7th Goya Awards were presented in Madrid, Spain on 13 March 1993. The gala was hosted by Imanol Arias. ''Belle Époque'' won the award for Best Film. Winners and nominees Major award nominees Other award nominees Honorary Goya * Imano ...

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Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, , , , rowspan = "17" , , - , Best Director , , Fernanro Trueba , , , - ,

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...

, , Fernando Trueba José Luis García Sánchez, Rafael Azcona , , , - ,

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

, , Ariadna Gil , , , - ,

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

, , Jorge Sanz , , , - , rowspan = "2" , Best Supporting Actress , , Chus Lampreave , , , - , Mary Carmen Ramírez , , , - , rowspan = "2" , Best Supporting Actor , , Fernando Fernán-Gómez , , , - , Gabino Diego , , , - , Best Cinematography , , José Luis Alcaine , , , - , Best Editing , , Carmen Frías , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Juan Botella , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Cristina Huete , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Lala Huete , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , Ana Ferreira, Ana Lorena , , , - , Best Original Score , , Antoine Duhamel , , , - , Best Sound , , Alfonso Pino, Georges Prat , , , - , align = "center" , 1994 , ,

, , colspan = "2" ,

, , , - , align = "center" , 1995 , ,

48th British Academy Film Awards The 48th British Academy Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1995, honoured the best films of 1994. Mike Newell's ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' won the award for Best Film. It also won the awards for Best D ...

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BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, rec ...

, , , ,

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belle Époque (Film) 1992 films 1992 comedy-drama films Best Film Goya Award winners Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Films directed by Fernando Trueba Films featuring a Best Actress Goya Award-winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Goya Award-winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Goya Award-winning performance Films set in Spain Films set in 1931 Spanish comedy-drama films 1990s Spanish-language films Films produced by Fernando Trueba Films with screenplays by Rafael Azcona Films shot in Portugal LolaFilms films 1990s Spanish films

Plot

Cast

Production

Release

Critical reception

Year-end lists

Box office

Accolades

See also

Notes

References

External links