A writer called Francoise (Catherine Deneuve) meets an elderly millionaire (Fernando Rey) , the latter begins to manipulate her life , drawing in equally unsuspecting and luckly married Mark (Jacques Weber) . The wealthy old man is a chessman aficionado, who loves to treat his victims in much the same way as pawns on a board. In addition, the female lead, also involved in his machinations with her painter lover , another young man (Adalberto Merli) who, having married a beautiful girl (Emma Cohen) a tragedy becomes him a widower . Then the old man who lives at a country mansion along with his maid (Laura Betti) invites Francois and Mark , but there things go wrong .
This is the pretentious and sensuous story of La femme aux bottes rouges, a drama with surrealism and a sour portrait upon a few weird roles . This is a typical Luis Buñuel film style , as there are a lot of symbolism , social critique , mockery , and abstract scenes : like father like son , as Juán Luis Buñuel imitates heavily his father Don Luis . But here the script turns out to be confusing , disconcenting , and embarrassing, being written by Jean Claude Carriere, Luis Buñuel's regular, and director Juán Luis Buñuel himself . Despite the nice actors formed by an international cast from Spain, France and Italy , the picture results to be complex , tiring and nonsense . Stars two of the greatest figures of the European cinema at the time : the Euro cult actress Catherine Deneuve as a mysterious woman and Fernando Rey as an ageing financier, both of whom worked in the much better Tristana (1970) by Luis Buñuel . Being accompanied by a good support cast , but really wasted , such as : Jacques Weber , José Sacristán , Emma Cohen , Adalberto Maria Merli , Emma Cohen , the Italian Laura Betti , among others.
It displays an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Leopoldo Villaseñor, shot completely in Madrid . As well as classic musical score from Symphony in D minor composed by César Franck , L'Alouette written by Michael Ionesco performed by Michael Ionesco and unspecified medieval songs performed by Groupe Chorale Siglo XV . This dramatic motion picture was middlingly directed by Juan Luis Buñuel . He was born on November 9, 1934 and he died in 2017 in Paris, France. He was a director and assistant director, he began as assistant director on several of the films directed by his father, Luis Buñuel . He was married to director Joyce Buñuel. Juán being especially known for making some films as Cita con la muerte alegre or At the Meeting with Joyous Death (1973 ), Calanda (1967) , La rebelión de los colgados (1986) and La mujer con botas rojas (1974). And directing some documentary , Telefims and TV series, such as : Gaudi y Barcelona, Guanajuato una leyenda , Fantomas , Histoires extraordinaires , Serie Rosa , Serie neira , Intrigues , among others . Rating : 5/10. Only for Catherine Deneuve and Fernando Rey fans.
