Luis García Berlanga

Directing

Luis García Berlanga

Born July 12, 1921 · Valencia, España

Died November 13, 2010 · aged 89

One of the best known filmmakers in the world and director of some of the most famous films of Spanish cinema, tender in his vision of the characters, but satirical to the point of biting in his social analysis, clearly critical despite the censorship of the Franco regime. He was born in 1921 into a wealthy Valencian family. After the Second World War, he studied at the Escuela Oficial de Cine (II…

Known For

Strange VoyageStrange Voyage · 1964
Strange Voyage
7.31964
MovieComedyThriller
In a small town near Madrid, Paquita and her brother Venancio, both single and with a childish personality, live under the shadow of their bossy older sister, Ignacia, a grumpy old maid.
The Rocket from CalabuchThe Rocket from Calabuch · 1956
The Rocket from Calabuch
7.51956
MovieComedy
Professor Hamilton, a naive Nuclear scientist who once thought bombs were good for humanity, realizes his mistake and runs away from his inventions. He hides in Calabuch, a beautiful seaside town where people still believe in humor and friendship.
The ExecutionerThe Executioner · 1963
The Executioner
7.61963
MovieComedyDrama
An undertaker gets married to an old executioner's daughter and, although he doesn't like it, must continue the profession of his father-in-law after his retirement.
El sueño de la maestraEl sueño de la maestra · 2002
El sueño de la maestra
5.42002
Movie
The teacher explains to her students, step by step and with full details and live examples, how are the different types of execution: the electric chair, the garrote, the gallows ..
Welcome Mr. Marshall!Welcome Mr. Marshall! · 1953
Welcome Mr. Marshall!
7.41953
MovieComedy
A small Spanish town, Villar del Río, is alerted to the upcoming visit of American diplomats and its ruling townsmen begin preparations to impress the American visitors, in the hopes of benefiting under the Marshall Plan. Hoping to demonstrate the side of Spanish culture with which the visiting foreign officials would be more familiarized, the Castilian citizens don unfamiliar Andalusian costumes, hire a renowned flamenco performer, and re-decorate their town in Andalusian style, meantime waiting for their uncertain arrival.
October in MadridOctober in Madrid · 1965
October in Madrid
6.31965
MovieDocumentary
Initially a made-to-order documentary on Spain, the film becomes an open-ended work-in-the-making about the creative process. “Settling in the Spanish capital to make a documentary, Hanoun sketches out for us the different steps involved in making a film. The author turns his hesitations, his doubts and difficult working conditions into the constituents of his work”. (Raphaël Bassan)
París-TombuctúParís-Tombuctú · 1999
París-Tombuctú
5.81999
MovieComedy
The frustration and vital weariness of Michel des Assantes, a prestigious plastic surgeon in Paris, is unbearable: he has a wife whom he does not love, a son who is foreign to him and friends whom he despises but, at the same time, he is incapable of taking his own life. One day, he buys a bike from a bizarre cyclist who was to make the Paris-Timbuktu route and sets out to make the journey: then, Timbuktu becomes for him the Promised Land.
The HeiferThe Heifer · 1985
The Heifer
6.71985
MovieComedyWar
During the Spanish Civil War a platoon of mismatched Republican soldiers cross the front-line to steal the bull that the enemy is going to fight on the local holiday of the nearby village. In addition to ruining the Nationalist faction's celebration they want the animal in order to butcher it and feed their famished troops. They get caught in the process and have to go through a series of funny and pathetic incidents before they can get back to their side.

Filmography

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Tuset StreetTuset Street · 1968
Tuset Street
4.51968
MovieDramaMusic
Barcelona 1967. The pop culture revolution. Jordi (Patrick Bauchau) is a rich playboy who runs around with a bunch of high-end hippies, smoking, drinking, dancing and daydreaming about Tuset Street, an effort to develop a popular street in the newer section of Barcelona after the models of Haight Ashbury Street in San Francisco and Carnaby Street in London. Jordi and his gang represent the new Barcelona, wealthy, artificial and striving for imported sophistication. On the older side of the city is El Paralelo, the theater district. At El Molino, one of its many music halls, performs Violeta (Sara Montiel), a showgirl in the old style tradition who supplements her singing income with prostitution. Somehow Violeta represents the old values, the "real world" living along side an artificial creation such as Tuset.

Aparicio

National HeritageNational Heritage · 1981
National Heritage
7.11981
MovieComedy
After the death of General Franco, the Leguineche family leaves their estate of Los Tejadillos, where they have remained for decades in voluntary exile, with the purpose of returning to Madrid to actively participate in the social events of the aristocracy and to get closer to the closest circle of the Spanish monarch. The obsession of the old marquis is centered on getting in touch with the most illustrious surnames, to ascend socially and to resume the pomp and courtly life that his family lost a long time ago. To this end, he decides to move into an old palace he owns, located in the center of the capital, but not before overcoming the difficulties posed by his wife, who deeply hates both her husband and her son. To regain control of the palace, the Marquis of Leguineche tries to handicap his wife, arguing an incurable mental illness, and then undertake a reform of the place in order to adapt it to aristocratic life.

Director