Malena Is a Name from a Tango

Malena Is a Name from a Tango (Spanish: Malena es un nombre de tango) is a 1996 drama film directed by Gerardo Herrero from a screenplay by Senel Paz based on the novel by Almudena Grandes. It stars Ariadna Gil.

Malena Is a Name from a Tango
Theatrical release poster
SpanishMalena es un nombre de tango
Directed byGerardo Herrero
Screenplay bySenel Paz
Based onMalena es un nombre de tango
by Almudena Grandes
Produced by
  • Gerardo Herrero
  • Javier López Blanco
Starring
CinematographyAlfredo Mayo
Edited byCarmen Frías
Music byAntoine Duhamel
Production
companies
  • Tornasol Films
  • Alta Films
  • Blue Dahlia Production
  • La Sept Cinema
  • Road Movies Dritte Produktionen
Distributed byAlta Films
Release date
  • 12 April 1996 (1996-04-12) (Spain)
Countries
  • Spain
  • France
  • Germany
LanguageSpanish
Box office188 million (Spain)[1]

Plot

edit

The plot concerns about the romantic and sexual endeavours of Malena, a victimised and rebellious woman contrasting to her twin sister Reina (who always was the model girl in the family), and then about the mother-son relationship of Malena with her son. Malena was gifted however a talisman by her grandfather back when she was 10.[2][3]

Cast

edit

Production

edit

An adaptation of the novel by Almudena Grandes, the screenplay was penned by Senel Paz. It is a Spanish-French-German co-production by Alta Films, Tornasol Films, Blue Dahlia Production, La Sept Cinema, and Road Movies Produktionen.[8][3] Shooting locations included the San Julián estate (La Hoya [es], Lorca), Mula, Águilas, and Madrid.[9]

Release

edit

Distributed by Alta Films, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 12 April 1996.[8][5]

The film was the fifth highest grossing Spanish film of the year with a gross of 188 million Spanish Pesetas ($1.31 million).[1]

Reception

edit

Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be a "well-intentioned, provocatively moralizing women's pic that ends up as second-rate melodrama".[3]

Luis Martínez of El País deemed that, efforts from a "magnetic" Ariadna Gil notwithstanding, the films "ends up as an uneven and quite chatty journey into the interiors of this disease called life".[10]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Boletín informativo. Anexo cultura en cifras. Datos de 1996 (PDF). ICAA. 1997. p. 135. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  2. ^ Cine y literatura española. Guía de largometrajes (PDF). Comunidad de Madrid. Consejería de Cultura y Deportes. 2005. p. 136.
  3. ^ a b c Holland, Jonathan (19 August 1996). "Malena Is a Name from a Tango". Variety.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Cerón Gómez & Martínez González 1999, p. 110.
  5. ^ a b García, Rocío (11 April 1996). "La perfecta y la imperfecta". El País.
  6. ^ Cerón Gómez, Juan Francisco; Martínez González, Jesús (1999). Cien años de cine en Lorca. Secretariado de Publicaciones Universidad de Murcia; Primavera CInematográfica de Lorca. p. 110. ISBN 84-8371-069-2.
  7. ^ "A Dafne le gustan altos, morenos y con barbita". Divinity. 28 September 2011.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Malena no es un nombre de tango". Adaptaciones de la literatura española en el cine español. Referencias y bibliografía. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  9. ^ Cerón Gómez & Martínez González 1999, p. 107.
  10. ^ Martínez, Luis (15 June 1999). "Malena es un nombre de tango". El País.
edit

Malena Is a Name from a Tango at IMDb