No es bueno que el hombre esté solo

Resident in an industrial city , Bilbao , a widower man called Martín (José Luis López Vázquez) is a lonely person who lives isolated in his villa where he has created a world of his own , he is navigating his midlife crisis by carrying a monotonous existence , but he hides a dark secret , with whom he spends time at home . As he feels lonely , and falls in love with the most unexpected "perfect woman" : a mannequin who has a caste relationship and considers to be his deceased wife . In the next door apartment lives Lina (Carmen Sevilla , though Olea wanted Concha Velasco) , a whore , along with her daughter Cati ; at the beginning she's unaware of her neighbor's synthetic nature , but Lina seems to be aware that her widowed man has a 'fiancee' . Step by step , Martín will be dominated by Lina , to the point that she and her daughter settle in his house . Meanwhile , there shows up a pamperer called Mauro (Máximo Valverde) , and Lina's lover ; then things go wrong when the aggressive neighbors pull off an inappropriate behavior until an unexpected denouement .

This is a twisted drama , including thrills , suspense , plot twists and brief nudism . Sex dramas were all the rage in European cinema of the '70s, but this is ultimately a little stranger than most examples of the genre . It is an interesting drama in which starring's life goes regularly until an overly curious little girl and a suspect pimp will discover the truth and both of whom will precipitate the tragedy . Provoking and strange picture , including weird elements , turns and being extremely horrifying at times . This ¨No es Bueno El Hombre Este Solo¨ bears certain resemblance to ¨Grandeur nature¨ or ¨Tamaño natural¨ (1974) by Luis Garcia Berlanga , though the latter was strongly censored . Very good acting by the great José Luis López Vazquez as a middle aged man with a troubled life , with the help of an inflatable sex doll , the widowed person shares with Elena, a doll he treats as if she were his wife . At the beginning his long career , Vazquez played several comedies , usually as a secondary actor . José Luis met film-makers like Marco Ferreri, Juan Antonio Bardem, José María Forqué , Luis García Berlanga, and Pedeo Olea who extracted his best qualities . His popularity raised dramatically after he worked together with Gracita Morales in several films of less importance under the direction of Mariano Ozores . In the early 70s he surprisingly started to do good dramatic performances in films like Peppermint Frappé (1967), El Jardín de Las Delicias (1970), Bosque Del Lobo (1970) that had Best Actor Award in the 1971 Chicago Film Festival , Mi Querida Señorita (1971) Best Actor Award in the 1972 Chicago Film Festival, and Habla , Mudita (1973). He made a great success with these films which even got stronger after the international effects caused by his TV cult movie 'La Cabina' winner of an Emmy Award , and his contribution to George Cukor's Viajes Con Mi Tía (1972). And this hit set the rest of his career , full of successful films both dramatic and hilarious La Escopeta Nacional (1978) , La Verdad Sobre El Caso Savolta, (1979), La Colmena (1982), La Corte del Faraón (1985), Mi general (1987), El Largo Invierno ,(1991) and many others . Support cast is pretty good , full of known actors in brief interpretations , such as : Máximo Valverde as a nasty pimp , Eduardo Fajardo , Angel Menézdez , Helga Liné , José Riesgo , José Franco and the veteran Raquel Rodrigo .

This mystery/drama/thriller picture was professionally directed by Pedro Olea ; it achieved some nominations and awards , such as Prize of the National Syndicate of Spectacle Best Cinematography to Antonio L. Ballesteros and getting great success , especially in Argentina with 1.3000.000 spectators . Here Pedro Olea was able to extract from José Luis López Vázquez his funniness amazing nuances like tenderness , dirtiness, meanness , absurd and even nonsense . Olea is one of the most gripping Spanish directors , being an expert Basque director , producer and screenwriter . Pedro attempted to create a production company along with Eloy De La Iglesia and José Truchado but it failed . Olea was born in Bilbao , Basque Country , where he often directs his films , in fact this one was filmed in Bilbao . He began directing ¨Dias Viejo color¨ and followed a personal work titled ¨Bosque del Lobo¨ about an alleged werewolf splendidly played by José Luis López Vazquez . He subsequently directed a trilogy about Madrid , produced by Jose Frade , such as : ¨Tormento¨ , ¨Pim , Pam , Pum Fuego¨ and ¨La Corea¨ . After six years in which Pedro Olea dedicated in advertising and documentaries as ¨Guernica¨ , ¨River of Bilbao¨ and TV series as ¨Cuentos Y Leyendas¨ , and others about Basque themes , Olea goes back to shoot , thanks to subsidy of the Basque government , making a witchery story called ¨Akelarre¨. His biggest success was ¨A man called Flor De Otoño¨ with Jose Sacristán . After that , he made ¨Bandera Negra¨ about arms smuggling and a military thriller : ¨Moriras en Chafarinas¨ ; later on , he directed ¨Mas Allá Jardin¨ with Concha Velasco . And ¨Fencing master¨ that resulted to be one of his best films . And he also shot two films about witchery : ¨Akelarre¨, and ¨Leyenda Del Cura De Bargota¨ . Rating : 6.5 /10 . well worth watching