Finished their careers of Law and Medicine , respectively , Antonio Redondo (Fernando Fernan Gómez) and Josefina Castro (Analia Gadé) become a pair of young Spanish newlyweds , with no employment . They have reached a delicate economic balance after their marriage . His salary of attorney is limited but then his chief takes the retirement , and Antonio is fired . As they fight heavily in finding that first job , as Antonio enters the underworld looking for customers to offer their services as a lawyer , but he gets nothing . As the optimist marriage are looking for work to buy a little flat and start a life together , but they will face huge problems along the process . Meanwhile , Antonio finds all kinds of jobs as seller , teacher , presenter , among others . When Josefina suffers a car accident he offered to defend her , but things go wrong . His salary of commentator or teacher and her wages from the Josefina's psychologist consulting allowing them to survive and fantasize about some whim .
It is a good comedy of exquisite manners full of fine critical spirit and observation dealing with the enormous difficulties suffer a marriage throughout the process to buy a flat . Following the surprising adventures , misfortunes and incidents of this particular couple and their peculiar behaviors leading to hilarious situations . Some of them deserve to be mentioned , especially its final part , including the amazing car crash . All this is compellingly told , with some extremely comical scenes , adding emphasis on the masterfully paced scene of the accident , it is narrated under several sight-points . Also noteworthy are the soliloquies of the roles , which are face to face with the audience to tell her confidences . It is plenty of nice critical spirit and resulting to be an observational comedy of social habits , it displays a cleverly subversive tone , and intelligent as well as engaging dialogue , as well as a construction "Sui Generis" for the Spanish cinema by that time . Duo protagonists are really magnificent . Support cast is frankly excellent with several familiar faces , such as : Félix de Pomés , Manuel Alexandre , Xan das Bolas , Matilde Muñoz Sampedro , Francisco Bernal, Rafael Bardem , Maria Luisa Ponte , Gracita Morales and several others . And José Isbert proves his huge presence and experience , as Fernan Gómez thanksgiving at credit titles for accepting a little role . Followed by ¨La vida Alrededor¨ (1959) in which Josefina Castro/Analia Gadé and Antonio Redondo/Fernando Fernán Gómez live again twisted happenings , these situations will be more complicated since Josephine is expecting a child ; anticipating the debacle that can mean having a "child who eats everything, even food," Josefina imparts to the baby, still in her womb, higher education courses in order to save some money in schools .
The picture is well set in the fifties , splendidly photographed by the notorious cameraman Ricardo Torres , being stunningly shot on location , in Madrid , but a perfect remastering being necessary , that's why the film copy is washed-out . The motion picture was well and with lively rhythm directed by Fernando Fernán Gómez , in his second movie , he appeared in more than 200 films , made another 20 and wrote novels , plays and poetry . After his debut in "Manicomio" directed this great film "Life Ahead" with a great sense of humor as well as sparkling and witty dialogue , giving a fairly reliable analysis to show the society of the 50s . His turbulent career as a filmmaker has been little appreciated by the public , being more known for his acting career at the orders of other directors . This has made possible in part , we lose some of the gems that this director has given across his career . Fernando was one of the most complete Spanish Cinema artists and a member of the Spanish Royal Academy and one of the best actors of the film history . Along with Icíar Bollaín , he's the only person to have been nominated as performer El Abuelo (1998), director (El Viaje a Ninguna Parte (1986) and writer Lázaro De Tormes (2001) for three different movies at the Goya awards . He actually won in every category at least once . This prolific and prestigious actor also directed a few films , such as : ¨Lazaro De Tormes¨ , ¨Fuera De Juego ¨, ¨Mambrú Se Fue a La Guerra¨ , ¨5 Tenedores¨ , ¨5.000 Dias Juntos¨ , ¨Ninette¨ , ¨Venganza De Don Mendo¨ . These are stunning pictures but still far from the levels of talent would reach director years later with works like ¨El Mundo Sigue¨ (1963) ,¨El Extraño Viaje¨ that is today deemed a real ¨Cult Movie¨ and his greatest success ¨Viaje a Ninguna Parte¨ , the latter showing the harsh daily life of the traveler actors .
