Based on a novel by the well-known writer Antonio Muñoz-Molina (see also Beltenebros, 1991), but obviously the filmed version lacked rather a lot of the psychological and philosophical content of the book. However, Imanol Uribe has basically done a good job as he captures the tense atmosphere of the novel without indulging overly in any of his quirkishness; he tells the story straight and gives excellent characterization in the most part.
Adriana Ozores is not too convincing much of the time, though Miguel Ángel Solá is fine as the police inspector. Both are overshadowed by a good reading by Juan Diego Botto of his rôle of murderer: indeed there are moments in which he is exceptional. Apart from that it was indeed nice to see Chete Lera and María Galiana in their secondary rôles, and Charo López positively makes the screen vibrate with her small part but immense playing of her also secondary rôle as 'Carmen'. I can only suppose it was not some kind of joke casting Fernando Fernán Gómez as a priest, but he is of course superb. Not shown on IMDb is the young Noelia Ortega who plays the part of a girl who survives a murder attempt: she plays her part as an eleven year old quite well.
In this novel, as well as in others, Muñoz Molina sought to explore the feelings and sentiments of his murderer so as to bring out the whys and wherefores of his psychotic behaviour. In this we can say that Elvira Lindo has done a good job with her script, Uribe handled the matter reasonably well, and full marks must go to Botto for his interesting playing.
