El amor brujo (1986) User Reviews

Tradition, Love, Passion, Betrayal, Death, Lust, Redemption

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 24 July 2008]

In a Gypsy village, the fathers of Candela and José promise their children to each other. Years later, the unfaithful José (Juan Antonio Jiménez) marries Candela (Cristina Hoyos) but while defending his lover Lucía (Laura del Sol) in a brawl, he is stabbed to death. Carmelo (Antonio Gades), who secretly loves Candela since he was a boy, is arrested while helping José and unfairly sent to prison. Four years later he is released and declares his love for Candela. However, the woman is cursed by a bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where José died to dance with his ghost.

"El Amor Brujo" is the shooting of a magnificent Flamenco ballet and third and last movie of the Carlos Saura's trilogy. The story based on the ancient tradition of promising children to marry each other has love, passion, betrayal, death, lust and redemption, with the lead character tied and being consumed by her unresolved desire for her former husband. The lighting in the set is impressive and the dances and the music score are awesome. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Amor Bruxo" ("Warlock Love")

Form, function and flamenco

[pablopaz · 8/10 · 23 December 2000]

Formalismo is an integral part of both Hispanic culture and gypsy/flamenco culture. It is inherent in this dance-drama within a movie. You must willingly suspend disbelief in the realistic sets set on an obvious dance stage with scrimmed and lighted backdrops. Likewise to accept the plot, you must suspend disbelief in phantom lovers, duels for honor, and happy-ever-after endings -- although be forwarned that the ending of this Bewitched Love (a better translation than the usual "Love, the Magician", altho' there are at least three other ways to interpret the ambiguous Spanish title words) can be understood only as a comedy, or comedie noire. The action, singing and dancing are compressed into the lines of flamenco dances as tightly as pure emotion can be condensed into a sonnet, or any other strict form, and yet they transcend with the freedom of the gypsy spirit, if you but open yourself to the experience. The first of Saura's great dance movies.

Fine musical with great dancing.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 4 July 2002]

I'm kind of surprised at the number of mostly negative reviews this film has generated. Of course this is nothing more than a ghost story with an essentially silly plot. (So was Hamlet.) That served as no impediment to the success of "Dona Flor and her Husbands", although in that case Sonya Braga's beauty was a big help. And it didn't stop "Ghost," a shameless ripoff, from being a huge hit either.

The performers here are admittedly overage for their parts. It's disgraceful that they couldn't look like Brad Depp or Angelina Roberts. I hid my eyes when their faces appeared on screen.

What gall the producers had, presenting these splendid artists/athletes in their middle years. I only say that in the certainty that I will never know the meaning of the word "wrinkle." And the sets! Revolting. Clearly a stylized stage setting. The chutzpah! Why couldn't they have made the movie in San Francisco or sunny Miami where everyone has a suntan? No play with so many bare bones as a background can possibly be any good, as "Waiting for Godot" and "Our Town" proved long ago.

Still I find myself enjoying the music and the dancing, even to the point of being swept up in it. A lot of people seem to think that enduring music began in Europe with Bach and ended here with Charles Ives. We don't hear a lot about De Falla, who is much better known in Hispanic America. "El Amor Brujo" contains what I think of, at least, as his most entrancing tunes. Some of them are kind of naughty. (I rather like that.) And I am thrilled when I see people with outstanding, almost unearthly psychomotor skills exercise them, whether on the football field or the dance floor. I understand that what we see here is not "pure" flamenco, whatever that adjective means, but there is a basic difference between, say, Sonny Rollin's or Gene Kelly's or Paul Taylor's approach to music, on the one hand, and that of a flamenco musician or dancer on the other. The former would be tickled pink to be able to play an instrument or move his body in a way that nobody ever had in the history of humankind. A traditional flamenco artist would be perfectly satisfied to play, sing, or dance exactly the way his grandfather had. The singing, yes, sometimes sounds like the wailing of a cat in heat. It's supposed to, I would guess. All that Moorish repression of female sexuality.

I once saw Sugar Ray Leonard at his peak, shadow boxing for a few minutes, and the grace and perfection of his movements gave me goose pimples. So do some of these performances. I wouldn't have missed them.

Tragic and sensitive love story , stunningly danced , dealing with a woman is cursed by a bewitched love

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 16 July 2021]

This is the story of an Andalusian gypsy woman called Candela (Cristina Hoyos) living in Cadiz slums . It regards a haunted young girl being mysteriously harassed by his ex-husband Jose (Juan Antonio Jiménez) and every night she goes to the place where his old lover died to dance with his ghost . It starts with a bloody confrontation between a violent man and a passionate gypsy , both of whom are dueling for the heart of a pretty young girl , Lucia (Laura Del Sol) , Jose's lover . As Jose has dead in a razor fighting , although Candela affection goes on . The Jose's ghost is still obsessed with Candela's soul . Carmelo (Antonio Gades) is accused of killing , subsequently imprisoned and years later he is released and then declares his love for Candela. However, the woman goes on cursed by the bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where José died to dance with his ghost.

This is the exciting story about two men confront for the heart of the same woman . Having been based on a ballet, the movie does use dance extensively , particularly in some rather striking and eerie dream sequences . The movie version appears partially to modify this plot, largely removing the ghost angle and turning the story into two lovers, one good and one evil, competing for the same woman. Movie is based on a ballet and music by prestigious Manuel De Falla concerning a woman in an arranged marriage who loves another man . When her husband dies , she thinks she's free to pursue her true love, but the husband's ghost refuses to let her go, and she must find a way to get rid of him to win her true love . However, the ghost angle does not appear to have been jettisoned completely ; at the beginning of the movie, she thinks her husband is dead and that his reappearance is that of a ghost. There are other two versions about this play : 1949 Bewitched Love by Antonio Roman with Ana Esmeralda, Manuel Aguilera , Miguel Albaicín , Elena Barrios and 1967 by Francisco Rovira Veleta with Antonio Gades , La Polaca , Rafael de Córdoba.

It is directed with a striking visual sense and very well acted. So it's definitely a more cultured affair than most of the Spanish movies. It is fundamentally a tragic melodrama with ballet scenes , that's why it is musically riveting , it is almost, also , perfect and laced with glimmer photography , particularly shown on the spectacular and sensitive dancing set pieces . I was able to enjoy many of the visual elements, in fact this one results to be the quintaessential Dance film , featuring brilliant and frenetic choreography and embellished thanks to its chromatic aesthetic and a high-caliber Flamenco score , including songs sung by the greatest : Rocio Jurado , adding sensual re-creations of love , passion , betrayal , and jealousy . Freely based on ¨El amor brujo¨ , as the film filled out the story with spoken dialogue , but nevertheless used the entire score of the ballet , along with additional songs and dances performed by characters in the film. El Amor Brujo (Love, the Magician, literally, Spell-bound Love or The Bewitched Love, sometimes translated as Wedded by Witchcraft) is a ballet composed in 1914-15 by Manuel de Falla to a libretto by Gregorio Martínez Sierra . In 1916, Falla arranged a rendition of the work for sextet and small orchestra and the following year he made a concert version, also for small orchestra . Later, he fashioned a piano suite from it and finally , a second ballet version (1925) that features expanded orchestration, elimination of the narration, small cuts and plot changes, and a different order to the numbers . The work is distinctively Andalusian in character with the songs in the Andalusian Spanish dialect of the Gypsies. The music contains moments of remarkable beauty and originality ; it includes the celebrated "Danza ritual del fuego" (Ritual Fire Dance), "Canción del fuego fatuo" (Song of Wildfire), and the "Danza del terror" (Dance of Terror) . As the entire location knows about the haunting , but still brands Candela as crazy because she dances every night with her husband's ghost ("Danza del terror") . Candela, now a widow, is free to establish a relationship with Carmelo, but continues to be haunted by her husband's ghost . As Candela gets advice that a ritual dance is necessary to cast the ghost off ("Danza ritual del fuego"), but it does not work . The great quartet starring formed by four splendid dancers : Antonio Gades , Cristina Hoyos ,Juan Antonio Jiménez , and Laura del Sol are really fabulous .This splendid motion picture was compellingly directed by Carlos Saura.

Setting the record straight

[mccolley2 · 10/10 · 13 January 2005]

Formalismo, that school of Hispanic literature that emphasizes form as function, or form over function, has little to do with Saura's EL AMOR BRUJO. This is Saura's final work in his flamenco trilogy that began with BODAS de SANGRE and includes CARMEN. As with those two films, Saura bases this cinematic ballet on a previous work, Manuel de Falla's EL AMOR BRUJO. The other two films in the trilogy were based on Lorca's BODAS de SANGRE and Merimee's and Bizet's novel and opera, CARMEN. These three classical works are not examples of formalismo. Rather, they are prime examples of both the realistic and impressionistic schools of literature which under the creative mastery of Saura become sensual re-creations of love, passion, betrayal, and death. The love stories here supercede form and attain a thematic content worthy of the great literary works they portray. The starkness of the set is for symbolic purposes and not for form nor for function. The dilapidated, dusty set represents the emptiness of the soul that has lost great love, or has been deceived by a bewitching love. The set takes on color when Candela dances the Fire Dance, and again at the end when Lucia sacrifices herself to be the eternal lover of the bewitching ghost of Jose, thus setting Candela free from his cursed memory. Saura never lets us forget the tension between reality and fiction as the dawn rises on a new day over a theatrical set free of obsessions with death and love that bewitches the lover.

A stunning film

[aberlour36 · 10/10 · 15 October 1999]

This is a brilliant film, one of Carlos Saura's best. It is essentially a ballet, laced with gorgeous music and moving photography. I've seen it three times and have enjoyed it more each time.

This isn't a teen flick, of course, and will not appeal to everyone. But for people serious about music, dance, and drama, this shouldn't be missed.

Fire, Passion, Amor - and the dancing skill of Antonio Gades

[tomba-netropolis · 10/10 · 15 April 2006]

The music, the colourful settings and the skills of the dancers make this film a must for everyone that loves to see a drama of love and betrayal - and Antonio Gades who plays Carmelo is the God of Flamenco Dancing in this film.

When I first saw the film on a visit to Madrid 1986 it blew my mind completely and after 20 years I'm still in love with this wonderful film. The trilogy by Carlos Saura which consists of Bodas de Sangre, Carmen and El Amor Brujo get 10/10 from me but this film was the first I saw and that's why it's special. If you enjoy Flamenco, Spanish and Latin Culture and fiery ladies and gents - don't miss this trilogy.

What great films "should" be...and rarely are

[aciolino · 10/10 · 5 May 2008]

As an avid fan of classical music, ballet, opera, I am, more often than not, confounded by the poor quality of films based on these genres. If they're not "dumbed down," they are "interpreted," beyond recognition, or simply a vehicle for the director to shout: "look at me! I'm DIRECTING!"

But Carlos Saura has placed the story (full of passion, fire, lust, longing, love, sin and redemption) well ahead of his own ego. He simply allows the story to be told through dance, music and sparse dialogue.

Add to this the quality and nature of the choreography where again, we are simply allowed to experience the story: the dance, and its appropriateness to the subject matter tells us all.

Musically, it is almost, also, perfect. My one reservation lay in some acoustically "awkward" moments that render de Falla's critical orchestration less effective. I will not name them, in the hopes that the reader will not notice them and therefore, not be disappointed.

Nevertheless, the music is brilliant, and these three elements of form work together for a powerful, moving, and thrilling experience. As music with dance creates an experience that is more than both, this creation is much more than a film.

See it with a loved one. Or alone at night with a glass of Fundador...

Captures the dark mood of the gypsy world

[howard.schumann · 8/10 · 19 August 2013]

Impeccably choreographed and imaginatively stylized, El Amor Brujo, the final film in Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy, stands out for the brilliance in which it captures the dark mood of the gypsy world through sensual flamenco dance. The film features the complete score of Manuel de Falla's ballet including the famous Ritual Fire Dance, Cancion del Fuego Fatuo, and the Dance of Terror. It is also enhanced by additional gypsy songs in the Andalusian dialect performed by characters in the movie. Set on an elaborate stage representation of an Andalusian shantytown, Saura brings back the cast from Carmen in much different roles but still choreographed by Gades.

The film tells the story of bewitched lovers, reaching each other through the veil of death. The opening shot provides a panoramic view of the sound stage with the sky a mélange of changing colors to fit the mood. Candela (Christina Hoyos) and José (Juan Antonio Jimenez) are promised to each other by their fathers when they are children, illustrating the stifling rituals of the gypsy village and presaging the inevitable struggle of the partners to escape their spiritual bonds and reach towards a full expression of their human spirit. When they reach the age of maturity, their wedding, memorably portrayed in song while the bride and groom are lifted to the top of the chorus, we find out that their celebration also has its shadow.

Carmelo (Gades) has always been in love with Candela and José has been lovers with Lucia (Laura del Sol). When José is killed in a knife fight after a visit with Lucia, Carmelo is unjustly arrested and sent to prison. When the narrative resumes, it is four years later and Carmel has just been released from prison. Still in love with the now widowed Candela, his courtship is thwarted by his lover's nightly meeting with José's spirit on the site in which he was killed where she dances with him in a ritual totentanz. When Candela discovers that her husband was unfaithful to her, she asks Carmelo to free her from her haunted meetings and show her the way to the free expression of her passion.

When he visits a village elder and is told "My son, the happiness of some always comes at the expense of others." he knows the direction in which he has to proceed. El Amor Brujo is stunning in the other-worldly mood it engenders but does not recreate the magic of Carmen. Its story, which I found otherwise involving, is extended beyond a satisfactory length, and the lead performers seem too old for their roles. Their dancing, however, is as magnificent as ever and alone makes the film a memorable experience.