Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead

Gloria (Victoria Abril) witnesses a brutal killing in Mexico. She had come from Spain 2 years ago. She was married to a torero and they lived a good life. Her mother-in-law lived with them. A fatal accident in the arena leaves him paralyzed in bed. Hard times hit them. Gloria begins to drink and her life goes out of control. She thinks she has nothing left to lose and decides to try her luck in Mexico. In Mexico things get still worse. Gloria becomes a whore and after witnessing this killing (related to drugs, money laundry etc..) and barely escaping with her life, she's deported back to Spain. In Spain she goes to live with her mother-in-law, Julia (Pilar Bardem) and her completely disabled husband. Life goes on as dark as ever. Finding a job is difficult. But in spite of all there's a strong emotional link between Gloria and Julia (her mother-in-law). But to add to Gloria's problems, two killers are sent from Mexico to silence her and get back some documents they think she has in her possession.

I will not delve further into the story that has many other facets because I don't want to spoil the film for you. The film shows us the darker side of sunny Spain. "Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto" (Nobody will speak of us when we're dead) has something of a film noir, but it transcends the conventions of the genre. To give you an idea of what the film looks like I would say that it's a film noir with a strong neorealistic feel to it.

The performances overall are very good (especially Victoria Abril), but it would be very unfair not to mention Pilar Bardem's shining performance, and Federico Luppi's as well.

"Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto" is gritty, powerful and emotional. The Spanish cinema is in my opinion one of the best in the world. If you like Victoria Abril I recommend also (among many): "Amantes", "Entre las piernas", "Sin noticias de Dios" etc..