Sweet Hours (Dulces horas)
Encyclopedia
Sweet Hours is a Spanish film, written and directed by Carlos Saura
and released in 1982. The title comes from words in the soundtrack song Recordar (To Remember) sung by the soprano Imperia Argentina.
is resolved.
And Juan falls in love with Berta (Assumpta Serna
), the stunning young actress who is rehearsing the role of the mother.
in The New Yorker
; " This movie has the kind of subtle obviousness that is generally described as literate. What it comes down to is that Carlos Saura has a feeling for dark, autumnal elegance, and a dexterous technique that he puts at the service of tired ideas. What saves him from pedantry is that his films have occasional moments of erotic vibrancy. Scenes that aren't explicitly sexual in content are sexualized, so that they become ambiguous and disturbing - even haunting...In a Saura film, something more directly sexual is often impending; it hovers in the atmosphere. ..the wide-eyed Assumpta Serna, when she smiles, has a teasing elusiveness..She makes the atmosphere hum..perhaps Saura means us to see that the cycle is inescapable..The enigma of Saura is his addiction to enigma."
Carlos Saura
Carlos Saura Atarés is a Spanish film director and photographer.-Early life:Born into a family of artists , he developed his artistic sense in childhood as a photography enthusiast.He obtained his directing diploma in Madrid in 1957 at the Institute of Cinema Research and Studies...
and released in 1982. The title comes from words in the soundtrack song Recordar (To Remember) sung by the soprano Imperia Argentina.
Plot
The past is a riddle to Juan (Inaki Aierra), the playwright. He is tormented by it - by memories of the elderly father who went off, and the young mother who committed suicide, and he has written a play, Sweet Hours, which contains the key scenes of his early life. The play is in rehearsal and he attends the sessions, watchful and absorbed. He is searching for something. Juan slips in and out of the actor reconstructions and his own memories. Finally , light dawns on Juan, he dredges up the repressed material, and his Oedipus ComplexOedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
is resolved.
And Juan falls in love with Berta (Assumpta Serna
Assumpta Serna
Assumpta Serna is a Spanish actress. She is known for her roles in I, The Worst of All portraying famous Mexican religious scholar Sor Juana, Nostradamus, The Craft, and Wild Orchid, although she may be most remembered for her role as Peninsular War guerrilla commander Teresa Moreno in the first...
), the stunning young actress who is rehearsing the role of the mother.
Cast
- Inaki Aierra as Juan
- Assumpta SernaAssumpta SernaAssumpta Serna is a Spanish actress. She is known for her roles in I, The Worst of All portraying famous Mexican religious scholar Sor Juana, Nostradamus, The Craft, and Wild Orchid, although she may be most remembered for her role as Peninsular War guerrilla commander Teresa Moreno in the first...
as Berta - Alvaro de Luna as Tio Pepe
- Jacques Lalande as Tio Angelito
Reception
The film was reviewed by Pauline KaelPauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
; " This movie has the kind of subtle obviousness that is generally described as literate. What it comes down to is that Carlos Saura has a feeling for dark, autumnal elegance, and a dexterous technique that he puts at the service of tired ideas. What saves him from pedantry is that his films have occasional moments of erotic vibrancy. Scenes that aren't explicitly sexual in content are sexualized, so that they become ambiguous and disturbing - even haunting...In a Saura film, something more directly sexual is often impending; it hovers in the atmosphere. ..the wide-eyed Assumpta Serna, when she smiles, has a teasing elusiveness..She makes the atmosphere hum..perhaps Saura means us to see that the cycle is inescapable..The enigma of Saura is his addiction to enigma."