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''Promising Future'' () is a 1965
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
film directed by
Vicente Aranda Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member ...
and Román Gubern. Set in Neorealism style, the plot was inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's
the Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...
.Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 79 Starring
Germán Cobos Germán Sánchez Hernández-Cobos (7 July 1927 – 12 January 2015) was a prolific Spanish actor in a variety of European films. He was married to Visitación Peralta. Biography He was born on 7 July 1927 in Sevilla. He was known for playing Art ...
and Italian actress Serena Vergano, it was shot in 35 mm in black and white in
Castelldefels Castelldefels () is a municipality in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and a suburban town of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Its population is 65,954 ( IDESCAT, 2017). Geography and location ...
,
Sitges ; , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain, renowned worldwide for Sitges Film Festival, its film festival, Carnival, and LGBTQ culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is know ...
and
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
.


Plot

Antonio, a young man with a modest job in a small town, leads an ordinary monotonous existence until he is transferred to Barcelona to work in a firm of architects. From then on, a new life opens to him. He befriends Lorenzo, one of his coworkers. Lorenzo, more experienced than Antonio, shows him a new, more restless, and sophisticated life in which Antonio feels out of place. He falls in love with Montse, Lorenzo’s sister, and that makes him try to fit in. One night Antonio is invited to a party offered by López, a businessman with whom Antonio has had a small confrontation before. Initially reluctant to go to the party, Antonio goes just to be with Montse. He is expelled from the party. The invitation he had was bogus, falsified by Montse. Drunk and upset, Antonio returns to the party in the company of Carmen, Lorenzo’s girlfriend, who has also been turned down. They tried to make a scene and spoil the party but are thrown out violently. The next day Antonio tries desperately to see Montse. Her family has forbidden her any contact with him. Antonio confronts Montse for her relationship with López, but she assures him that he is the only one in her life. Upset with López, Antonio confronts him, but he is threatened by him and by Lorenzo. Antonio takes the road to Paris escaping with Montse. Halfway, he changes his mind and decides to leave her. Montse explains that he eventually stayed with her.


Cast

*
Germán Cobos Germán Sánchez Hernández-Cobos (7 July 1927 – 12 January 2015) was a prolific Spanish actor in a variety of European films. He was married to Visitación Peralta. Biography He was born on 7 July 1927 in Sevilla. He was known for playing Art ...
as Antonio * Serena Vergano as Montse *Arturo López as Lorenzo *José Maria Angelat as López *Gloria Osuna as Mercè * Josefina Güell as Carmen *Pedro Gil as Luis


Production

''Brillante Porvenir'' marked the directorial debut of
Vicente Aranda Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member ...
, who had to face many difficulties making the film.Vera, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 40Vera, ''Vicente Aranda'', p. 41 Aranda could not get the necessary permit from the Spanish director's guild to direct the film, due to his lack of formal education.Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 80 This forced him to co-direct with film historian and theorist Román Gubern, a friend among a group of Catalan intellectuals interested in filmmaking who formed the so-called Barcelona School of Film. The script was written by Aranda, Gubern and their mutual friend
Ricardo Bofill Ricardo Bofill Leví (; 5 December 1939 – 14 January 2022) was a Spanish architect from Barcelona. He founded Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura in 1963 and developed it into a leading international architectural and urban design practice. ...
, an architect also associated with the Barcelona School. The screenplay was loosely inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's
the Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...
in a portrait of Barcelona's upper class seen from an outsider coming from the provinces. Although Gubern worked on the screenplay and prepared the scenes to be shot each day, the actual direction of the film was completely in Aranda's hands. German Cobos was chosen to be the leading man thanks to his brother association in the theater with Roman Gubern and Joaquin Jordá, another member of the Barcelona's group of filmmakers and close friend of Gubern and Aranda. Serena Vergano, an Italian actress who had recently came to Spain to make the film ''El Conde Sandorf'' (1963), was chosen for the female lead. At the time she was involved in a romantic relationship with Ricardo Bofill. Production of the film was problematic. There was a dispute between Ricardo Bofill, the co-scriptwriter who was present during shooting, and the cinematographer Aurelio G. Larraya. This had a negative effect in the resulting film. ''Brillante Porvenir'' was shot in various locations in Barcelona,
Castelldefels Castelldefels () is a municipality in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and a suburban town of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Its population is 65,954 ( IDESCAT, 2017). Geography and location ...
and
Sitges ; , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain, renowned worldwide for Sitges Film Festival, its film festival, Carnival, and LGBTQ culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is know ...
between 14 October and 6 December 1963. Location were set apart geographically and the many scenes complicated the work of Aranda, who was directing his first film.


Reception

''Brillante Porvenir'' is set within a neorealistic aesthetic, following in the footsteps of the
Italian neorealism Italian neorealism (), also known as the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, was a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They p ...
and the work of
Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...
, who was then popular in the art house circuits. However by the mid 1960s, when ''Brillante Porvenir'' was made, this approached seemed dated. ''Brillante Porvenir'' aspired to be a chronicle of Barcelona's upper middle class from the point of view of an outsider, a newcomer who arrives from a provincial background.Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 81 This social criticism, unusual in Spanish films during
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
's regime, faced cuts from censors who eliminated parts of the script and later forced the director to alter the end of the film. These mandatory changes distorted the meaning and intentions of the film and negatively affected its reception. ''Brillante Porvenir'' was coldly received by critics and public.Cánovas, ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', p. 82 It was a commercial an artistic disappointment.


Notes


References

*Cánovás, Joaquín (ed.), Varios Autores: ''Miradas sobre el cine de Vicente Aranda'', Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, 2000, *Vera, Pascual: ''Vicente Aranda'', Ediciones J.C, Madrid, 1989,


External links

*
Official website of Vicente Aranda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brillante Porvenir Spanish drama films 1960s Spanish-language films Films directed by Vicente Aranda 1965 drama films Spanish-language drama films