Tesis cover art

Tesis Details

1996 Certificate 18
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 1916 members

Angela begins to research her thesis on television violence and uncovers a tape containing a 'snuff' movie. With the help of her friend Chema she sets out to discover who is responsible for the tape... Spanish dialogue. Read more

Starring Ana Torrent, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega, Nieves Herranz
Director Alejandro Amenabar
Genres Thriller, World Cinema

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Tesis

Angela begins to research her thesis on television violence and uncovers a tape containing a 'snuff' movie. With the help of her friend Chema she sets out to discover who is responsible for the tape... Spanish dialogue.

Starring Ana Torrent, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega, Nieves Herranz
Director Alejandro Amenabar
Studio PALISADES TARTAN
Run time DVD: 1 hr 59 mins
Certificate Certificate 18
Genres Thriller, World Cinema
Language DVD: Spanish
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 26 Dec 2001
Production year: 1996
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (2) of Tesis

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    How is it possible to condemn our morbid fascination with violence without delivering the very imagery under scrutiny? It's a problem that Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar fails to solve in this otherwise compelling thriller. Yet, he can't be faulted for the way in which the story twists and turns, as post-graduate student Ana Torrent teams up with geek Fele Martínez to trace the origins of a snuff movie in a university's film vault. There may be only a handful of suspects, but even the most acute armchair detective will remain baffled. The suspense in the tunnel sequence is taken to almost sadistic levels.

    • Radio Times
  • Torrent, a student researching violence in audiovisual media, gets more than she bargained for after asking a... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of Tesis

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  • 18 out of 24 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    Too didactic to work

    Not dissimilar to an overreaching Hollywood B-movie, Tesis serves as a reminder that not all foreign films are clever and skilfully made.

    It's not that bad really, it passes a couple of hours and it's a great deal better than 8mm, it's just too riddled with plot holes and improbable behaviour to become absorbed in.

    It's as if Amenabar has focussed too hard on trying to say something about the voyeuristic human response to violence and in the process, missed the opportunity to make a plausible film as a vehicle for his ideas. It's not clear what he is trying to say, perhaps even to him.

  • Most recent members' review of Tesis

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  • 4 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Interesting and well crafted

    Alejandro Amenabar is a fresh Spanish director who's making a name for himself with Hollywood films like The Others and the original Open your Eyes which was remade as Vanilla Sky.

    Tesis was his debut and it already shows promise. A film student decides to do a project on violence on TV etc and stumbles into the dangerous world of snuff movies, and the makers of one particular film could be all around her. Similar themes are explored in The Ring and 8MM.

    It gets off to a quick start and doesn’t mess about, quickly absorbing your interest with a mixed sense of curiosity and danger. The actors are all good and the script is also good.

    The ending does through a few twists of uncertainty into the path but there is at least a sense of realistic confusion which demands to be resolved.

    Certainly worth watching. Although the subject is rather gruesome and some might fin it upsetting, we are spared unnecessary gore.

      • blunderwood from East Sussex
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Rating breakdown

1,916 Member ratings
  • 100
173
  • 90
161
  • 80
354
  • 70
353
  • 60
381
  • 50
200
  • 40
124
  • 30
77
  • 20
64
  • 10
29

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    • Angela begins to research her thesis on television violence and uncovers a tape containing a 'snuff' movie. With the help of her friend Chema she sets out to discover who is responsible for the tape.....