Seen at the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival under the English title 'Falling Star'. When Amadeo is elected monarch of Spain in 1870 he has all sorts of plans for social reform, but those are blocked by his ministers, so instead he spends his days in his castle - which he is not permitted to leave - accompanied only by some shifty servants (and, for a while, by his wife).
This could have been a grand historical drama, but instead is used chiefly as an excuse for a series of vignettes of varying accessibility: Amadeo teaches his oft-disrobed kitchen maid to read; a servant shaves his pubic hair; a melon is sexually molested. The tone is usually gloomy (almost typed 'boring'!) which makes the musical interludes especially jarring: when Amadeo's wife María Vittoria arrives the soundtrack features a Spanish crooner; when she leaves, the bewildered viewer suddenly finds himself listening to a Spanish version of 'I only wanna be with you'.
I expect those who care about such things will say this has great artistic merit; those who want more story and character development will, however, be disappointed. Two more points: Amadeo was in his mid-twenties when he became king; actor Àlex Brendemühl was in his early forties when this film was made and, to be frank, looks it. Secondly, if you want a better idea of what kind of film this is, one of the final lines spoken in it is "and God was a turtle". 'nuff said!
This could have been a grand historical drama, but instead is used chiefly as an excuse for a series of vignettes of varying accessibility: Amadeo teaches his oft-disrobed kitchen maid to read; a servant shaves his pubic hair; a melon is sexually molested. The tone is usually gloomy (almost typed 'boring'!) which makes the musical interludes especially jarring: when Amadeo's wife María Vittoria arrives the soundtrack features a Spanish crooner; when she leaves, the bewildered viewer suddenly finds himself listening to a Spanish version of 'I only wanna be with you'.
I expect those who care about such things will say this has great artistic merit; those who want more story and character development will, however, be disappointed. Two more points: Amadeo was in his mid-twenties when he became king; actor Àlex Brendemühl was in his early forties when this film was made and, to be frank, looks it. Secondly, if you want a better idea of what kind of film this is, one of the final lines spoken in it is "and God was a turtle". 'nuff said!