The Grandfather

The Grandfather (1999) El Abuelo This film directed by José Luis Garci, who won an Academy Award in 1983 for "To Begin Again,". Based on Benito Perez Galdos novel, the film that comments on how families are built by love, not blood. Love is the only bond that can hold a family together, & this movie proves it. When an aging, bitter, turn-of-the-century Spanish aristocrat (Fernando Fernán-Gómez) learns that his son has died, he travels back to his family estate in Spain to confront his detested daughter-in-law (Cayetana Guillén Cuervo), whom he suspects of bearing him an illegitimate granddaughter. But which one is it? Which granddaughter will gain his blessing, & which his curse? This once powerful and still proud patriarch finds it hard to deal with the shameful and humiliating treatment he receives from the townsfolk. As his ego is battered, he slowly mellows. His friendship with Pio Coronado (Rafael Alonso) improves his mental health.(the old teacher who has had serious thoughts about suicide). In the last stages of his life, the Count learns a thing or two about time, love, friendship, and blood ties. He is free at last to cave in to the impulses and desires of his heart. While the film is a deeply touching story & contains very lush beautiful cinematography this movies moves at a snail's pace & is very long at 145 minutes. The great Spanish character actor Fernando Fernan-Gomez (Belle Epoque) won a Spanish Goya award for his part in this film as aged Count of Albrit. His creaky performance is a standout; excellent –well really- fantastic he is in this role characterizing The Grandfather. The film is just a little too slow & constrained. In addition to the strong performances, the film's cinematography is absolutely beautiful. The lush & verdant Spanish landscape is the backdrop, the rural scenery sweeps of Spain is just a beauty to behold. The stunning cinematography literally makes turn-of-the-century Spain appear as if it's just been stolen from an famous summer painting. In 1999, The Grandfather deserved its the Spanish nomination for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film. It also received a dozen Spanish Goya nominations. This is the third time Galdos' novel has been brought to the screen, & this one is well worth the effort to watch. My main comment would be how poor the (Spanish) dubbing was. It was a very bad choice to have the two small girls voices dubbed in by fake sounding adults who do not sound like a child at all. There were consistent problems with the voice dubbing & synchronizing throughout the movie. I watched the movie in Spanish with English Subtitles. I hope this film get a wider audience than it had in 1999 it is really almost an epic of a movie and extremely beautiful and interesting. The Grandfather magically transports us to a time and a way of life that have long since disappeared. However it is a tad boring as it is long and slow but art film lovers hang in there and watch this !! I still liked the movie a lot!

My immediate impression after seeing this film for the first time (and any really good film needs to be seen at least twice) was that at last here was another little masterpiece to add to the very limited cinematographical treasure troves produced by Spain in the last quarter of a century. 'El Abuelo' stands very well alongside `El Sur' (1982) and `Los Santos Inocentes' (1984), these two also being adapted from novels. I cannot help thinking that Garci is at his best when with the help of Valcárcel he adapts a story from real Spanish literature. As perhaps the most prestigious and prize-winning Spanish director (we shall pass over Almodóvar and his commercially orientated light entertainment), having won at Hollywood, Montreal, and Spain's own Goya prize several times, he has produced some memorable films and TV series (Historias del Otro Lado - Stories from the Other Side), mostly because he has that acute eye for capturing every detail as he shoots his scenes. He knows how to use his actors, and never better than in `El Abuelo'. The leading actors bring sincere interpretations, full of feeling, adding beauty to the situations being developed. The film is also a little tribute to Rafael Alonso, who died without seeing the finished film: his life ended with the hugely memorable part of an unpresuming private home teacher to the two little girls - Dolly and Nelly - one of whom is not really Don Rodrigo's granddaughter. Fernán Gómez is of course perfect, as he has been in most of his films in recent years, and Agustín González has at last played his best rôle in the whole of his acting career. Don Rodrigo returns from the Americas where he lost a fortune, to find out which of the two girls was due to his daughter-in-law's unfaithfulness. The novel itself is `costumbrista' as is also the novel by Concha Espina, `El Junco', which deals with a similar situation. Manuel Balboa once again has been exquisite in choosing his music and I must mention the sumptuous photography by Raúl Pérez Cubero, beautifully, lovingly captured in the countryside and around the grand old house, worth any prizes that may be floating around out there.....But I do not believe in prizes: they mostly exist only to perpetuate themselves. `El Abuelo' does not need any prizes - it stands up on its own merits: simply a wonderful film telling a story with simplicity and feeling.

I agree with most of the favorable comments made about this movie. The story, the characters, the scenery were all must right. If the story seems a bit formal and slow moving, I think that's just Spanish style for a story of this type. The dialogue was quite good. The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles, but what I thought was odd, was the apparent use of dubbed voices for several of the characters. The two most obvious were the women's voices dubbed in for the two grand-daughters. But the lip movements of several characters made it clear they were not speaking Spanish. There's no doubt Fernando Gomez and Cayetana Guillen and some of the others were speaking Spanish, but I wonder what language the rest were really speaking before Spanish was dubbed in?

Among the many strengths of this movie: excellent dialogues-better if you understand Spanish-, superb acting even by children, touching and comic -not corny- story, magnificent landscapes and atmospheres. Definitively, an intelligent movie with a big heart.

Oscar winner Jose Luis Garci repeats his classical formula in this adaptation from a novel by Perez Galdos. The story is set in Asturias, in the north of Spain, in the 1900's. The film is about honor, reputation, friendship, love and hate.

As many films by Garci, the cinematography and the score makes the film more comfortable to follow, although there are scenes that can be so slow, that they can bore a bit.

But all the cast, including Fernan Gomez and Rafael Alonso, the landscape and the story itself, make this film so attractive to those who love classical films, that it must be seen.

And pay attention to the magnificent first 7 minutes, with no cuts, and the camera following calmly to the characters. ¡It is genial!