The award-winning television director Andrea Soriano (Mercedes Samprieto) has just returned from an international festival, where she has achieved great success. Her great dream is to direct a movie for the big screen. She is appreciated by her co-workers but her independence has prevented her from getting too involved and the people who have been close to her have gradually distanced themselves from her. When she is about to film the dramatic work ¨A puerta cerrada¨ by Jean Paul Sastre (playing known actors as Amparo Soler Leal, Agustín Gónzalez and Alicia Hermida), she finds out that what she thought was a pregnancy is actually a malignant tumor and she must undergo surgery as soon as possible. Now a major illness forces her to reconsider her life--work, family, friendships, men-- causing a psychological and emotional crisis pushes her toward a drastic decision. During the two days it takes to take her to the operating room, she rethinks her work, her family and emotional life through a succession of scenes with her lover Mario (John Finch), her mother (Mary Carrillo), her boss Diego (Victor Valverde), his friend Julio (José Manuel Cervino) and her old love Bernardo (Fernando Delgado), while in a trunk full of childhood memories she finds some photos of Gary Cooper and prays to him that everything goes well.
This is an acceptable semi-biographical drama with great interpretations but it turns out to be quite slow, briefly interesting and a little boring. With this story, which has a strong autobiographical charge, the director Pilar Miró makes her first and most personal film, portraying a peculiar woman with many traits of her own personality, who faces herself, others and life with great hardness. A structure that is too elementary, supported by a succession of similar interviews and some not very attractive characters, as well as shortcomings in the direction make the result not up to the level of its ambitious approach. Stars Mercedes Samprieto giving adequate acting as a woman nearing her forties, who has always pushed aside personal questions and romantic relationships in pursuit of professional success. In this same autobiographical line and also starring Mercedes Samprieto, is the most successful ¨El Pajaro de la Felicidad¨, one of Miró's best works.
The main fun and entertainment in ¨Gary Cooper, que estás en los cielos¨(1980) is to contemplate the long gallery of secondary characters that appear here and there, while you try to guess the name of the one that will appear next, among these we can include the following: Carmen Maura, Víctor Valverde, Alicia Hermida, Isabel Mestres, José Manuel Cervino, Agustín González , Fernando Delgado, Amparo Soler Leal, Eduardo Calvo, Maite Blasco, Nicolás Dueñas, Myriam de Maeztu, Guillermo Montesinos, Francisco Casares, Francisco Merino, Félix Rotaeta, David Rocha, Juan Jesús Valverde, Laura Bayonas, Ana Belén, Francisco Guijar, Francisco Vidal, among others.
There's an atmospheric musical score by composer Antón Garcia Abríl , and two songs: ¨Un marino americano¨ written by Sergio Aschero and Nicolás Guillén performed by Ana Belén and ¨Pourquoi me réveiller¨ taken from the opera "Werther" by Jules Massenet performed by Alfredo Kraus. The motion picture was professionally directed by Pilar Miró, following his particular film style. It won some awards: Pilar Miró 1981 Winner Fotogramas de Plata, and Best Spanish Film and Mercedes Sampietro 1981 Winner and Fotogramas de Plata Best Spanish Movie Performer. And Mercedes Sampietro won the award for best performance at the Moscow festival . Pilar Miró has a prestigious career both cinema and TV. In 1982 Pilar was designated General Director of Cinema and from 1986 to 1989 was Directora General De RTVE . She was an expert filmmaker of Television series and occasionally for cinema . At the beginning she collaborated in Manuel Summers' screenplays , such as ¨Niña De Luto¨and ¨Juego De Oca¨. Her fetish actress , and alter-ego , was Mercedes Samprieto , whom she directed in ¨Gary Cooper Que Estas En Los Cielos¨, ¨Werther¨and ¨Pajaro De Felicidad¨ , among others . Her film debut was ¨La Petición¨ , getting some successes such as ¨Hablamos Esta Noche¨ , ¨The dog in the manger¨ or ¨El Perro del Hortelano¨, ¨Beltenebros¨ , ¨The bird of happiness¨ , ¨Werther¨ , ¨Tu Nombre Envenena Mis Sueños¨ based on Joaquin Leguina novel and especially ¨The Cuenca crime¨ this one resulted to be a hit smash and got a lot of money at the Spanish box office. Rating ¨Gary Cooper, que estás en los cielos¨(1980) : 6/10. Acceptable and decent thanks to good cast , adequate set production and enjoyable atmosphere .
