Fortunata y Jacinta(1970) is based on a major novel by the Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós published in four volumes in 1887, within the cycle of Contemporary Spanish Novels , being a deep portrait of Spanish society at the end of the 19th century through the eyes of two women, Fortunata and Jacinta. More than a hundred secondary characters with a well-drawn psychological profile , within a choral ensemble that is close to a thousand types , make up "the human comedy" that Galdós , like Balzac and Dickens had done years before, will spin in around a large merry-go-round fueled by the emotions and actions of the two main characters who "hate and love¨ each other at the same time. According to the majority opinion of literary critics, it is the best novel by its author, and together with La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas Clarin , one of the most popular and representative of Spanish literary realism and the Spanish novel of the 19th century . Located in Madrid in the second half of that century , it recounts the intertwined lives of two women from different social backgrounds united by a tragic destiny . The action of the story takes place with the historical precision that Galdós usually gives to his work, between December 1869 and April 1876 . Starting from the socio-political environment left by the last days of the 1868 Revolution, they go through its pages the Reign of Amadeo I of Spain, the First Republic, the military coups of Generals Pavía and Martínez Campos, and a year and a half of Restoration, as a backdrop as significant as it is chronological.
The novel was adapted for the theater by Ricardo López Aranda in 1969 and made into a film by Angelino Fons in 1970 . Ten years later , Spanish Television produced and broadcast an adaptation for the small screen in 10 episodes by director Mario Camus with Ana Belén , François-Eric Gendron and Maribel Martin. The critical studies and the visualized versions (in cinema and television) have deepened and shown a good sketch of the psychology of the great protagonists or conductors of the plot of this novel. Being starred by the four main characters : the Dauphin, Fortunata , Jacinta and Maximiliano. The lives of these roles intertwine and are determined by a delicate tradition , social habits and surrounded by shaky politics and intrigue of the society they live in. As Fortunata, the woman of the town, instinctive and a victim of her own strength ; and Jacinta, the sterile female , sensitive to the point of obsession and finally saved by her maternal instinct from the harassment of her own class .
It is an intense melodrama with scenes of seduction , jealous , betrayal, abandonment and tragedy . It seems to be a typical 19th century love story but turns out to focus rather on more or less allegorical social criticism than on mere emotional . In the first part of the tale , Juanito Santa Cruz, the Dolphin (Maximo Valverde) , an only child and an idle gentleman, makes a class marriage with Jacinta (Liana Orfei) , related to his family, but from a lower economic stratum Juanito falls for Fortunata (Emma Penella) . Faced with her obsession with the Dauphin's bachelor life, a melodramatic entanglement develops around a supposedly abandoned son . In the shadows , Fortunata, a former victim of Juanito's raids , will be harassed again by the passional desires . Showing the unfailing love of two women for the same man , one as his mistress, the other as his wife . The melodramatic thread that plots the second part of the movie leads Fortunata to an interesting wedding with Maximiliano Rubín , a sick pharmaceutic (Bruno Corazzari) , and subjected to his aunt Lupe (Maria Luisa Ponte) , a despotic usurer who forces Fortunata to a 'cure' in one of the many convents in Madrid (Convento de las Madres Micaelas) , where our starring establishes a relationship with Mauricia la Dura (Terele Pávez) . Resulting in a scene of maximum tension : in the meeting and train crash between Jacinta and Fortunata, at the funeral of Mauricia la Dura.
Besides the story , the actors' artistic merits are notable and make this film worthwhile watching . Stars Emma Penela , Maximo Valverde , giving acceptable interpretation , and being a Spanish/Italian coproduction appearing some Italian ones as Liana Orfei and Bruno Corazzari . These fine actors are completed by a great panorama of secondary characters, well portrayed by the filmmaker with merciless irony and completing the human landscape of the film , such as : Julia Gutiérrez Caba , María Luisa Ponte , Terele Pávez, Rosanna Yanni, Antonio Gades , Luis Barboo, María Elena Flores, Manuel Díaz González, Fernando Hilbeck , José Manuel Martín , among others . It packs a colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Aldo Tonti . Likewise, sensitive and emotive musical score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. Impressive and spectacular production design and art design by expert designer Wolfgang Burmann . This disjointed picture was uneven and professionally directed by Angelino Fons , though it has some faults , flaws and gaps .
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