Cinema
Begin the Beguine
Volver a empezar
José Luis Garci · 1982
Synopsis
1981. Antonio Albajara, a Spanish writer who went into exile and is now a professor of literature at Berkeley, has just received the Nobel Prize in Stockholm. For a reason he confides to no one, he returns for a few days to Gijón, his native city, and there meets Elena again, the love of his youth. At the hotel, the king calls to congratulate him; journalists find out where he is staying, and he asks the manager to protect him so that he can keep his time for Elena. Together they travel through Asturias and go to watch Sporting de Gijón play, the club he had once played for.
Context
The character was inspired by a poet whom the director's father had known during the war, and the screenplay was written with Ángel Llorente. The film was to be called “Begin the Beguine”, after the Cole Porter song, and changed its title over a question of rights. Shot from September to November 1981 in Asturias and California, with Antonio Ferrandis and Encarna Paso, it gives a place to the call from the king greeting the exile, shortly after the attempted coup of February 1981. Poorly received at first by Spanish critics, it was distributed in the United States by 20th Century Fox.
Who it is for
A classically made melodrama, made up of reunions and walks across Asturias.
Prizes and reception
Academy Award for best foreign-language film in 1983, the first won by Spain, an award that made the film a success at home; ecumenical jury prize in Montreal in 1982.