Set during the last days of Franco’s regime, Pablo Berger’s debut feature is rather more interested in hardcore sex than hardcore Catholicism. Based on a potentially mortifying true story, this eccentric Spanish erotic comedy sees failed encyclopaedia peddler Alfredo (Camara) recruited into ‘educational’ sex films for the Scandinavian market.
As he badly needs the rent money and his adorable wife Carmen (Pena) requires impregnating, they take to the bedroom and get busy with a super-8 camera. It quickly transpires that in amateur pornography, the pair have found their true vocation. He’s a natural porn director and she’s moaning superstar. Inspired by The Seventh Seal (honest), Alfredo embarks on Torremolinos ‘73, his blue masterpiece and a star vehicle for his talented missus. Like this film within the film, there’s something very f’nar f’nar about Sr. Berger’s humour. The saucy seaside shenanigans and period setting (polyester everything and compellingly horrid Eurovision tunes) recall Confessions Of A Window Cleaner gone full-frontal. Despite this propensity for sniggering, a demi-documentary aesthetic hints at Almodovarian melodrama. The director displays a genuine affection for Camara’s budding filmmaker too, making Torremolinos ’73 a pleasurable, though not quite orgasmic romp.
Running Time 86mins. Cert 15a. Opens June 24th.