El amor brujo

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.