Manzanares Del Real , Madrid , in a countryside manor called ¨La Jara¨ takes place a celebration for the centennial birthday of the matriarch (Rafaela Aparicio) , she is the old omnipotent grandmother of an upper-class family . There arrives the British Ana Boulton (Geraldine Chaplin) , an ex-nanny accompanied by her hubby (Norman Brisky) and meets the three little girls she cared are now grown-up . There also shows up Natalia (Amparo Muñoz) who falls in love for Antonio . In this meeting , Ana to be aware that the stiff military José (José Maria Prada who actually passed away a bit later on) died three years ago ; Juan (José Vivó) abandoned his spouse Luchy (Charo Soriano) and Fernando (Fernando Fernán Gómez) carries out unsuccessful attempts to fly by Delta-wing . Meantime , Ana and the rare family go successively to José's tomb to pray him . Besides , Anna uncovers Juan , Fernando and Luchy attempt to kill their mom to get the valuable inheritance and her luxurious mansion to built an urbanization .
During the seventies Carlos Saura shot a trilogy produced by Elias Querejeta about the selfish Spanish bourgeoisie or middle-class formed by ¨Jardín De Las Delicias¨ or "The Garden of Delights" (70) , ¨Ana Y Los Lobos¨ or ¨Anna and the wolves¨ (72) and ¨La Prima Angelica¨ or ¨Cousin Angelica¨ (73) . Carlos Saura directed in 1972 ¨Ana Y Los Lobos¨ in which a nanny/Geraldine Chaplin goes to educate three little girls at a mansion , there Ana is seduced , harassed , mistreated , raped by the elder sons : Fernando Fernan Gómez-José Vivó-José Maria Prada and finally killed . But in "Mama Turns 100" the omnipresent Ana is alive and married to Antonio/Norman Brisky . "Anna and the Wolves" had a symbolic and thoughtful tone , as the manor represented the peculiar Spain ruled by a dark Franquist period and the sons were the different political factions which discussed by that time ; and it got a sequel : "Mama Turns 100" with uneven results , as this one has a less provoking style than the original , being more a comedy that a brooding drama . This "Mama Turns 100" results to be a black as well as merry Dramedy dealing with a dysfunctional and utterly broken family in which some ruthless sons are embezzling mother's money and subsequently killing her . It is a coral film , a piece of nonsense and absurdity with grotesque roles magnificently played by a great plethora of actors . As nice acting by Geraldine Chaplin as an ex-nanny who returns a manor where she worked many years ago . Carlos Saura filmed 7 movies with Geraldine (his then wife) , and this one resulted to be their final collaboration . Excellent Fernando Fernan Gómez , as usual , he plays a weird man who is still living with his mummy and attempting to fly a hang glider . Special mention for Rafaela Aparicio who steals the show as a sympathetic and bigmouth grandmother . The picture contains an evocative and colorful cinematography by Teo Escamilla , Saura's regular . Being shot on location in Torrelodones , Madrid .
This Spanish/French co-production dark comedy was well but slowly written/directed by Carlos Saura , at his usual style . Saura is a good Spanish movies director who goes on nowadays filmmaking . He began working in cinema in 1959 when he filmed ¨Los Golfos ¨(1962) dealing with juvenile delinquency from a sociological point of view . Later on , he made ¨LLanto Por Un Bandido¨ or "Weeping for a Bandit" (1964) starred by an all European-star-cast . Saura is a well recognized filmmaker both nationally and internationally , and in proof of it he won a lot of prizes among which there are the following ones : Silver Bear in Festival of Berlin for ¨Peppermint Frappé¨ (1967) and the successful ¨La Caza¨ (1966) that also won numerous prizes in International Festivals and in which four characters facing each other and terminating into a jarring burst of violence and being full of political allegories . Saura achieved Special Jury Awards in Cannes for ¨La Prima Angélica¨ (1974) , and for ¨Cría Cuervos¨ (1976) . Also, the surrealistic and disconcerting comedy ¨Mamá Cumple Cien Años¨ (1979) got an Oscar nomination in 1979 as the best foreign film , and it also won the Special Jury Award at the San Sebastian Festival . He subsequently made ¨Deprisa , Deprisa¨ based on facts about juvenile delinquency in Spain of the 80s , as he tried to take a position in favour of outcast people and he got to make a both lyric and documentary-style cinema . In 1990 , he won two Goya , The Spanish Oscar , as best adapted screenplay writer and best director . Saura became an expert on Iberian musical adaptations as ¨Carmen¨ , ¨Amor Brujo¨ , ¨Bodas De Sangre¨ , ¨Sevillanas¨ , ¨Iberia¨ , ¨Salome¨ , ¨Fado¨ , ¨Flamenco¨ and even recently Opera as ¨Io , Don Giovanni¨
