Belle Epoque Details

Winner of the best foreign language film Oscar, this charming picture recalls not only a key moment in Spanish history, at the dawning of the short-lived Republic, but also a golden age in film-making when romantic comedies were about innocence, discovery and love — and not gymnastic lust. Director Fernando Trueba claims his only mentor is Billy Wilder, but there is more than a touch of Buñuel about the opening sequences and the down-to-earth-with-a-bump finale. Although the romantic entanglements involving army deserter Jorge Sanz and the four bewitching sisters hold centre stage, the film is stolen by Fernando Fernan Gomez as their anarchist artist father.

A leisurely, enjoyable film of the past, as seen through rose-coloured spectacles; it is inoffensive and amusing without being particularly memorable.