#927: ERICE, Victor: El Sur (1983)

ERICE, Victor (Spain)
El Sur [1983]
Spine #927
Blu-ray


Ten years after making his mark on Spanish cinema with The Spirit of the Beehive, Victor Erice returned to filmmaking with this adaptation of a novella by Adelaida Garela Morales, which deepens the director's fascination with childhood, fantasy, and the legacy of his country's civil war. In the North of Spain, Estrella grows up captivated by her father, a doctor with mystical powers — and by the enigma of his youth in the South, a near-mythical region whose secrets haunt Estrella more and more as time goes on. Though Erice's original vision also encompassed a section set in the South itself, scenes that were never shot, El Sur remains an experience of rare perfection and satisfaction, drawing on painterly cinematography by José Luis Alcaine to evoke the enchantments of memory and the inaccessible, inescapable mysteries of the past.

94 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Spanish
1:66:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2018
Director/Writers


Based on the novella by Adelaida García Morales.
Victor Erice was 43 when he wrote and directed El Sur.

Other Erice films in the Collection:

#351: The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by novelist and critic Elvira Llindo, and a new edition of the 1983 novella by Morales on which the film is based.

Commentary

None.

Interview

From 2003 with director Erice.

Program

On the making of the film, featuring interviews from 2012 with actors Antonutti, Aranguren, and Bollaín; DP José Luis Alcaine; and camera operator Alfredo Mayo.

Hour-long episode

Of ¡Qué grande es el cine! from 1996, featuring film critics Miguel Marías, Miguel Rubio, and Juan Cobos discussing El Sur.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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