FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
TORREMOLINOS 73
Torremolinos 73, set in the waning days of Franco’s Spain, tells the humorous story of a
middle-class couple in need of money and their journey into the porn industry. Surprisingly
entertaining, it also offers cleverly intertwined social commentary on issues such as labor
politics, sexual relationships and even gender roles.
Alfredo Montoya’s job as a door-to-door salesman of encyclopedias is not going well. His boss
invites him and other colleagues to a weekend conference about the company’s new direction - to
focus on the “scientific experimentation of the sexual habits” of the Spanish for the “Danish
World Encyclopedia of Reproduction.” The salesmen will be taught by two Scandinavian
“experts” to handle a camera and film their own sex lives with their spouses, for which they will
receive a lot of money. If they decline, as the boss puts it, “the company will no longer need their
services.” In other words, porn or die.
What follows is a very good mixture of comedy and tragedy, which conveys the naiveté of
Alfredo, his wife Carmen’s primal need for a child, and his boss’ total lack of principles.
Becoming a director, the endearing Alfredo worries about his porn videos’ camera angles,
characters’ positions (no pun intended) and atmosphere (inspired by Ingmar Bergman). He even
writes a screenplay, full of every cliché in the book.
When Alfredo (Javier Cámara) and Carmen (Candela Peña) first go to a reproduction clinic, he is shocked to find out he is
expected to have a sperm test, and says he was just accompanying her. Because, of course, if
there are any problems in conceiving, it is always the woman’s fault. Men are men, and in this
society, more than just his pride would be attacked. His first comment when she tells him they
can’t have children is, “I told you it wasn’t me,” paving the way for the denouement.
All in all, Torremolinos 73 is a very satisfactory film, with naturalistic performances and
funny as well as intelligent dialogue. The ending, however, comes as no surprise – by the middle
of the film it can be predicted. A special mention of the music: with songs from ‘70s icons, they
will resonate with Hispanic audiences and help convey the naiveté of the main characters and the
contrast between dreams and reality. Roxana M. Ramirez
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