After completing his high-school studies at age 24, Óscar (Bruce Robinson) is an immature student, unable to afford to return home for the summer until he manages to convince his young math teacher Carlos (Ramiro Oliveros) to accompany him. Once he does get home, Óscar relations with his family formed by his mother (Lucia Bosé) , aunt Encarna (Laly Soldevila) , uncle Augusto (George Rigaud) , grandparents (María Francés , Emilio Espinosa) , sister Mónica (Guillermina Motta), while falls in love for Oliva (Maribel Martín) , furthermore a servant (Fabián Conde) . Oscar is deeply affected due to the death of his beloved horse and his mother attempts to see him as the reflection of their absent father figure.
Director Jaime Chavarri's first film, in which he recounts the relationship between a problematic young man and his eccentric family. It has a symbolic and thoughtful tone with uneven results , concerning the problematic relationships of an unsettling young who behaves more and more irrational with a friend and his offbeat family . Chavarri is really influenced by Carlos Saura films mostly set in a countryside mansion in which residing a peculiar family , 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) , ¨La Prima Angelica¨ or ¨Cousin Angelica¨ (73) , along with the subsequent Mamá cumple 100 años (1979) .Los viajes escolares (1976) displays an ambitious and complex developing with a strong autobiographical charge by the director Chavarri himself, but it doesn't lead anywhere and no success . It has a distant continuation in ¨El Río de Oro¨ 1986, also with a family that returns to spend a summer on a farm in the countryside but too many years have passed and nothing is as they remembered, being filmed on the same farm in the province of Segovia , dealing with a new family story with its own plot and script full of personal resonances. Despite his greater experience, in between Chavarri shot five acceptable pictures . But due to a cast that is too international and an unfortunate dubbing, just as it happened with ¨Los Viajes escolares¨, the results fell short in spite of their pleasant intentions . Here stands out the main and support cast . Stars the newcomer Bruce Robinson , to be folloed a prestigious cinematic career . He began writing screenplays in the mid-1970s, and was lucky enough to secure the patronage of producer David Puttnam who finally produced Robinson's script about Cambodia, Killing Fields (1984) for which he was nominated for an Oscar. But cult success was to come a couple of years later when he wrote and directed Withnail and me (1987), a film about the squalid lives of two unemployed actors that was elevated to iconic status by students all over the world and which shot newcomer Richard E. Grant to stardom. Robinson's subsequent films, the advertising satire How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) and the serial-killer thriller Jennifer 8 (1992), while less memorable than his debut, both show that Robinson has more than enough intelligence and brio to make his future career worth following. Being well accompanied by a notorious Spanish cast giving passable interpretations , such as : Maribel Martín, Ramiro Oliveros , Lucia Bosè , Laly Soldevila , George Rigaud , Mirta Miller , María Francés, Elsa zabala , and singer Guillermina Motta who sings a song.
The motion picture was lousily directed by Jaime Chavarri , a good professional who has directed some good films . His first movie was ¨Los Viajes Escolares¨ (1974), with an autobiographical touch but it was misunderstood by most critics and public . Later he worked with the producers 'Elías Querejeta' in prestigious documentary titled ¨El Desencanto¨ (1976)) and Alfredo Matas in this successful costumer titled ¨Bearn¨ (1983) . With the last mentioned film he also had success in terms of the numbers who saw the film . He also directed intense dramas such as ¨Dedicatoria¨ and ¨A un Dios Desconocido¨ . To change the genre he also filmed the musical , ¨Las Cosas del Querer¨ (1989) , being followed by ¨Cosas Del Querer 2¨ (1995) , along with a Tango film as ¨Tangos Are for Two¨ . And adapted from the theatre play by Fernando Fernán Gómez in his most popular film titled ¨Bicicletas Son Para Verano¨ . His last picture was a biography about ¨Camarón¨ (2005) . Rating : 3.5 , inferior drama with no much sense.
