Carmen & Lola

The Spanish film Carmen y Lola was shown in the U.S. with the translated title Carmen & Lola (2018). The movie was written and directed by Arantxa Echevarría.

The film stars Zaira Romero as Lola, a young Roma woman. (We use the word "Roma," but apparently in Spain they still use Gitana or Gypsy. The Roma in Spain use a word for non-Roma that the subtitles call "Whiteys.") Rosy Rodríguez portrays Carmen, another young Roma woman.

Carmen is settled within the Roma community, willing to play out the traditional lifestyle of daughter, wife, mother. Lola doesn't want to break from the community, but she wants to be a teacher, which is unsettling to her parents.

Lola knows that she's a lesbian. Carmen doesn't know that she even might have lesbian tendencies until she meets Lola. The plots starts at that point.

Both Romero and Rodriguez are excellent actors, and they are both confident and comfortable in the roles they play. It's a pleasure to watch them act. The supporting cast is excellent as well.

We saw this film at The Little Theatre, as part of Rochester's wonderful ImageOut LGBT Festival. Carmen & Lola has a pretty good rating of 7.1. I think it's better than that, and I recommend it.

This movie is perfect for anyone looking for a love story that will not only break your heart but fix it up at the same time. 'Carmen Y Lola' tells the story of two young gypsy girls in Madrid who eventually fall in love despite their families' religious viewpoints and societal expectations of their daughters. Their parents expect them to get engaged, get married, be a wife, and have babies for the rest of their life all while devoting their lives to God. This love story makes you really root for their romance to succeed, and takes you through their journey of keeping their relationship secret. You will feel the story tug at your heartstrings as they deal with society's views on a lesbian relationship and how they don't fit in with their expected roles set by their gypsy heritage. There is a lot of tension between their culture and their nonconforming relationship and relationship with their parents. As a sad yet happy film all in one, I would recommend this film to anyone willing to get fully invested in the story of the characters and fall in love with them.

Exposing conservatism in cultures and communities with the example of the Gypsy community in Spain, repression due to religious fanatism and addressing social problems with hints of sexism and racism. Occasionally over-dramatized in terms of directing and acting, and somewhat stale in terms of screenwriting. Nevertheless, the film gives a very relevant and necessary perspective on regressive communities.

A brilliant account of the love story between two young women overcoming obstacles that may be stronger in this particular culture, but are certainly not exclusive to it. Those who accuse the film of racism and stereotypical visions should listen to the stories of non-gypsy young lesbians who have also heard their mothers cry and beg them to say it's not true. Excellently performed by all its non-professional gypsy actors, the film is definitely worth seeing.

I absolutely loved this movie. It addresses a difficult subject, essentially a minority within a minority, being a woman in a deeply male-dominated society, being a lesbian in a culture with strongly predestined roles of wife and mother and being a Gypsy in a white society. In all three aspects that define who they are, they are discriminated. In this harsh milieu, two girls fall in love. I found the movie positive and hopeful. Carmen and Lola were realistic, their love was belivable. The two lead girls were great despite being non-professional actresses.