Life Goes On (Spanish: El mundo sigue) is a 1965 Spanish melodrama film directed and written by Fernando Fernán Gómez based on the novel by Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui which stars Lina Canalejas and Gemma Cuervo.
| Life Goes On | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Film poster | |
| Spanish | El mundo sigue |
| Directed by | Fernando Fernán Gómez |
| Screenplay by | Fernando Fernán Gómez |
| Based on | El mundo sigue by Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui |
| Produced by | Juan Estelrich |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Emilio Foriscot |
| Edited by | Rosa M. Salgado |
| Music by | Daniel J. White |
Production company | Ada Films |
| Distributed by | Nueva Films |
Release date |
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| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
Plot edit
Set in post-War Madrid, primarily in Maravillas and Malasaña, the plot tracks the fratricidal feud between two sisters, Eloísa and Luisita.[1][2]
Cast edit
- Lina Canalejas as Eloísa, "Elo"[2][3]
- Gemma Cuervo as Luisita[2]
- Fernando Fernán-Gómez as Faustino[3]
- Milagros Leal as doña Eloísa, the mother[4][5]
- Agustín González as don Andrés[4]
- Francisco Pierrá as don Agapito, the father[4][5]
- José Morales as Rodolfo[1]
- María Luisa Ponte as La Alpujarreña[5]
- Fernando Guillén as Rafa[5]
- José María Caffarel as Julito[5]
- Pilar Bardem as Maruja[5]
- Marisa Paredes as Floren[5]
- José Calvo as don Francisco[5]
Production edit
Life Goes On is an adaptation of the 1960 novel El mundo sigue by Falangist author and RAE member Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui, which depicts a bleak vision of Madrilenian society, with Zunzunegui being, according to Fernán Gómez, "the writer who has best brought to narrative the enormous political failure of the Spanish post-war period".[6][7] Despite the original author's acquaintance with the Francoist regime, the screenplay was banned by State censorship, and had to wait to a ministerial reshuffle (from Gabriel Arias-Salgado to Manuel Fraga) to be brought back, after some modifications.[2][8] The film was produced by for Ada Films.[9] Shooting took place in 1963.[10] The film was nonetheless granted a negative C rating by the censorship board (on the basis of its purportedly poor aesthetics values), imperiling its commercial distribution.[2][8]
Release edit
Rather than an outright distribution ban, the film's release was restricted,[11] with the film premiering at Bilbao's Cine Buenos Aires on 10 July 1965 under Nueva Films.[6] The film was re-released on 15 July 2015 by A Contracorriente Films in 15 Spanish cities.[12]
Reception edit
Mirito Torreiro of Fotogramas rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, deeming it to be "one of the most terrifying and merciless moral portraits of Francoist Spain ever made by Spanish cinema".[13]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b Faulkner 2017, p. 838.
- ^ a b c d e Romero Santos, Rubén (28 August 2021). "'El mundo sigue': la peor experiencia de Fernando Fernán Gómez fue su mayor obra maestra". Cinemanía – via 20minutos.es.
- ^ a b Faulkner 2017, p. 839.
- ^ a b c Pérez, Ricardo (7 August 2015). "El mundo sigue". Diario Siglo XXI.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Maestros del cine moderno español (III): Fernando Fernán-Gómez (1ª parte)" (PDF). La Madraza. Centro de Cultura Contemporánea. Universidad de Granada. February 2022. p. 101.
- ^ a b Casado, Marina (10 July 2021). "El Madrid de los cincuenta en 'El mundo sigue', de Zunzunegui". El País.
- ^ Fernández-Cebrián, Ana (2023). Fables of Development: Capitalism and Social Imaginaries in Spain (1950-1967). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-802-07805-3.
- ^ a b Tsanis, Magdalena (7 July 2015). "'El mundo sigue', de Fernán Gómez, resucita 50 años después". El Periódico de Aragón. Prensa Ibérica.
- ^ Faulkner, Sally (2013). A History of Spanish Film: Cinema and Society 1910-2010. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- ^ Lombardo, Manuel J. (17 July 2015). "Negra, negrísima España". Diario de Sevilla. Grupo Joly.
- ^ Faulkner, Sally (2017). "Delayed Cinema and Feminist Discourse in Fernando Fernán-Gómez's El mundo sigue (1963/1965/2015)". Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 94 (8): 833. doi:10.3828/bhs.2017.51. hdl:10871/30347.
- ^ Faulkner 2017, p. 833.
- ^ Torreiro, Mirito (22 June 2015). "El mundo sigue (50 aniversario)". Fotogramas.