The second Spanish language movie recommended to me by my Spanish neighbours actually turned out to be by the same director, Luis Garcia Berlanga, as the first, "Bienvenido Mr Marshall", made ten years before and again starring José Isbert in a prominent part, although this film is altogether different in tone.
This time Isbert is the retiring provincial executioner, Amadeo, who by dint of giving up the post, will lose the tenancy of the tied flat where he and his daughter Carmen (Emma Panella) live. Carmen is pretty and available but is stigmatised by being effectively the hangman's beautiful daughter so that no man will take her out.
Then, along comes Nino Manfredi's Antonio, an employee of the local funeral company, whose path naturally crosses with that of Amadeo and Emma and it's not long before he begins an illicit affair with Emma, who soon falls pregnant, so he has to slightly reluctantly do the decent thing and marry her. But where to live? Antonio himself lives unhappily with his brother and his wife so he allows Amadeo to put him forward as the replacement executioner where he will qualify for a newly-built flat big enough for all of them, not expecting at any time that he will ever have to do the dirty deed as it were.
We fast forward to the now extended family, including dad and a new baby boy, living not so happily in their not so dream accommodation when a letter arrives assigning Antonio to carry out a garrotting in Palma. So will he now have to pay the ultimate price for the roof above his head and is he prepared to do so?
Made in 1963 obviously still under the Franco dictatorship, I was personally surprised at how modern the film was in its treatment of adult relationships, the naturalistic acting style, location shooting, juxtapositions of everyday life and most of all the black humour at the heart of it. The best moment is at the climax when a stressed and panicky Antonio is being becalmed by the prison staff into carrying out his duty while in an ingenious role-reversal twist, the actual condemned man walks by him in a perfectly calm state of mind.
In my past life as a mortgage adviser, I once arranged a loan for a lady who was an embalmer in a funeral parlour and I remember being surprised at how calmly she spoke about carrying out what was to her just a routine job. We all know the phrase, "it's a dirty job but someone has to do it" and this insightful, quirky and unconventional movie does just that in an entertaining and amusing way.
This time Isbert is the retiring provincial executioner, Amadeo, who by dint of giving up the post, will lose the tenancy of the tied flat where he and his daughter Carmen (Emma Panella) live. Carmen is pretty and available but is stigmatised by being effectively the hangman's beautiful daughter so that no man will take her out.
Then, along comes Nino Manfredi's Antonio, an employee of the local funeral company, whose path naturally crosses with that of Amadeo and Emma and it's not long before he begins an illicit affair with Emma, who soon falls pregnant, so he has to slightly reluctantly do the decent thing and marry her. But where to live? Antonio himself lives unhappily with his brother and his wife so he allows Amadeo to put him forward as the replacement executioner where he will qualify for a newly-built flat big enough for all of them, not expecting at any time that he will ever have to do the dirty deed as it were.
We fast forward to the now extended family, including dad and a new baby boy, living not so happily in their not so dream accommodation when a letter arrives assigning Antonio to carry out a garrotting in Palma. So will he now have to pay the ultimate price for the roof above his head and is he prepared to do so?
Made in 1963 obviously still under the Franco dictatorship, I was personally surprised at how modern the film was in its treatment of adult relationships, the naturalistic acting style, location shooting, juxtapositions of everyday life and most of all the black humour at the heart of it. The best moment is at the climax when a stressed and panicky Antonio is being becalmed by the prison staff into carrying out his duty while in an ingenious role-reversal twist, the actual condemned man walks by him in a perfectly calm state of mind.
In my past life as a mortgage adviser, I once arranged a loan for a lady who was an embalmer in a funeral parlour and I remember being surprised at how calmly she spoke about carrying out what was to her just a routine job. We all know the phrase, "it's a dirty job but someone has to do it" and this insightful, quirky and unconventional movie does just that in an entertaining and amusing way.