Don Julián Álvarez (Jose Luis Gómez) , a young and timid priest , goes to the Pazos de Ulloa to serve the Marquis Don Pedro Moscoso (Omero Antonutti) as an administrator , on the recommendation of the nobleman's uncle . Don Pedro, who is not really a marquis since the title was sold, is ignorant and rustic, although he gives himself the air of a great lord. He spends most of his hunting time surrounded by disreputable characters. The peculiar priest is really stunning when he sees the palace is in a dilapidated situation , the library and the accounts abandoned , and the chapel neglected by the current abandonment. The estate's butler , Primitivo (Raul Freire) , a cunning and violent villager, controls all the Marquis's businesses and has the other employees and even the Marquis himself in fear . His daughter Sabela (Charo López) works as a cook in Los Pazos and she is Don Pedro's lover, with whom she has an illegitimate son of about five years old named Perucho . Perucho grows neglected and almost wild in Los Pazos . Sabela flirts openly with Don Julián and receives a cohort of villagers and girls in the kitchen of the pazos, supplying them from the marquis's pantry. In the nearby town, Cebre, the liberal and conservative caciques vie for control of the region. Later on , The Marquis marries his niece (Victoria Abril) , one of the four daughters of his wealthy uncle (Fernando Rey) and then things go wrong .
Drama with historical and tragic elements as well as rural habits , adding political corruption ; including enjoyable performances and adequate set design . Set in Northern Spain , this a Galician fiction crammed with rural customs , passional issues , witchery as well as mysterious touches and based on traditional oral legends , loosely based on actual facts happened after the ¨hunger year¨ , 1853 , in the impoverished and superstitious Galicia of the nineteenth century . This is an intense story plenty of enjoyable moments , moving feelings and deep tragedies . Director Gonzalo Suarez, also writes the thoughtful script along with Javier Gutierrez Aragon , Carmen Rico Gody , based on the novel written by prestigious writer Emilia Pardo Bazán . Filmed in his usual formal and stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the thought-provoking issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . The flick can be defined as a realistic drama ,a historic fresco and a socio-political fable about the ¨Caciquismo¨ that at the time ruled in Galicia . Good performances from a Spanish all-star cast such as : Victoria Abril, Jose Luis Gómez , Charo López , Fernando Rey , Pastora Vega and the Italian Omero Antonutti . And other support actors , giving nice acting , such as : Raul Freire , Chus Lampreave , Nacho Martínez , Francisco Maestre , Francisco Guijar , Yelena Samarina , Eusebio Lázaro Jose Maria Tasso , Eduardo Calvo , among others .
It contains an atmospheric and emotive musical score including Galician sounds . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Carlos Suarez , brother's director , being filmed on marvelous landscapes from Galicia , location where the filmmaker directs most his flicks . Direction by Gonzalo Suarez is pretty good , he shows his skill for edition , displayng agreeable dramatic tension and realizing long shots with crowd at the town that he moves easily and competently . Gonzalo Suarez is a good craftsman who has directed several films from the 60s . He excelled at bringing to life tautly written tales about strange characters facing difficult circumstances and dealing with thought-provoking , brooding stories . Throughout his career he regularly alternated hits with misses . He has stylistic trademarks , but also been criticized for his slow-moving films , though his best flicks remain exciting to watch . Among his most important pictures , mostly dramas , are the following ones : 1994 The detective and death , 1992 La Reina Anónima , 1991 Don Juan en Infiernos ,1988 Rowing with the wind , 1984 Epílogo ,1977 Parranda , 1977 Reina Zanahoria , 1976 Beatriz , 1975 La Regenta , 1974 La Loba y la Paloma . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average .
