Peppermint Frappé

(1967) Peppermint Frappé (In Spanish with English subtitles) PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA

The general premise is, middle age and single X-ray technician male doctor becomes infatuated with his best friend's young hot blond wife. 'Peppermint' is the delicious drink the doctor as well as his best friend always like to drink. Although, the director of this movie by the name of Carlos Saura dedicated this film to surrealist director Luis Buñuel, this movie has zero surrealistic imaging, for I feel that viewers can pretty much predict the result of this movie way before it's even over, just because there are many movies that are similar to the center theme of what this film is about. This is the first of nine movies Geraldine Chaplin collaborated with writer/ director Carlos Saura.

A very proper, very religious and very conservative doctor is obsessed with his long-time friend's wife, and because the events happen during the Franco repression , he acts according to the dictates of time and place :Extermination! the film is dedicated to Luis Bunuel.A very political, expressionist film.

I enjoyed the film, although I never took Saura to be a great director (as the film's dedicatee Bunuel was sometimes). Geraldine Chaplin is an actress I haven't noticed much in the past: she's very fluent here in her two roles, one staid and one swinging. The real revelation for me is Lopez Vasquez in a stunning performance as the obsessed doctor. I thought of other sad, obsessed characters: Trintignant as the fascist in The Conformist, and Bogart as the scriptwriter in In A Lonely Place. Just to watch him as Chaplin dances around the room with her husband, so free and easy, and he cannot respond to the gaiety in any way, it's awful.

Anyone familiar with Bunuel will find a treat of similar proportions in Peppermint Frappe's fascinating study of a fetishistic mind. This film is so carefully gripping that its mild-manneredness hides its thriller nature; instead, the film favours a meticulous reconstruction of a man's past desire projected into a vertiginous present he now creates. For all the layered desire and sexual tension, however, it is the subtle power of sublimation that works best. Consider the long, breath-taking seduction scene of the radiologist, the nurse & the rowing machine. The art direction is excellent and the opening credit music is great. Where the film loses its edge is in the direction, which is not as skilled as that of the dedicatee. This is more noticeable at the end, where the camera movement gives way to freeform and has a very dated late 60's look. A pivotal song in the film is likewise hard to take seriously. Still, the film is mesmerizing & scenic, & Jose of the 4 names- the radiologist, gives a tremendously controlled performance. It's his film and he carries it brilliantly. Ana, the nurse, is excellently portrayed as well. Overall, fascinating but not sharp enough

Intense psychological drama tells a slightly surreal, but also fascinating and creepy tale with a hint of both Bunuel and Hitchcock influence to it; Geraldine Chaplin is mesmerizing in a triple role.