- Actors: Roger Casamajor, Bruno Bergonzini, Antònia Torrens, Hernán González, Juli Mira
- Directors: Agustí Villaronga
- Format: Dolby, PAL, Widescreen
- Subtitles: English
- Region: All Regions
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Peccadillo Pictures
- DVD Release Date: 14 July 2003
- Run Time: 107 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005R5ET
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 52,585 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Product Description
Mallorca, 1936. The Spanish Civil War divides the local community with an orgy of bloodlust and brutal revenge executions. Ramallo, Tur and Francisca are childhood friends whose lives are irrevocably changed after they witness the savage murder of a young boy. Ten years later. Francisca is a nun working in an all-male sanatorium where Tur is a patient. Ramallo joins them, psychologically closing the triangle. Their close proximity to lingering illness and death brings the horrors of the past into the present. Haunting memories are intermingled with a growing sexual tension between the three of them.
Special Features
Wide Screen
Spanish
Region 0
Production Notes
Photo Gallery
Cast Biographies
Crew Biographies
English
Spanish
Region 0
Production Notes
Photo Gallery
Cast Biographies
Crew Biographies
English
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
First of all I'd like to present my excuses for my poor English. I'll do my best.
This film "El mar"("The sea")was produced in 2000 and it was not much successful here in Spain maybe because of its hard images and very "art house" nature. Despite the fact that it was released on VHS video some years ago, it hasn't been released on DVD in Spain yet. To my surprise I found it here in Amazon and I ordered it inmediately. But the biggest surprise was to see that the DVD producers had chosen the ORIGINAL Catalan soundtrack and not the Spanish version released in the rest of Spain outside Catalonia. I was sure that this would have been the chosen one as on the DVD is quoted as "Spanish". This film is set in 1930's Mallorca, and as you may know at the time Catalan was the usual language there. The film itself was a Catalan production, so it's normal that the original version here is the Catalan and not the Spanish dubbed one. That's why the director is named Agustí Villaronga and not "Agustín" which is the Spanish translation for Agustí. Ángela Molina for exemple plays a Spanish character on the film and therefore she speaks Spanish, but the rest speak in Mallorca's Catalan, slightly different to the one we speak here in Catalonia. So, I was very happy to listen to the original language on this edition.
I was really impressed by the film, certainly not for everyone, but a very interesting and artistic one. It's a dark story about violence, religion and gay love in post-war Mallorca. Absolutely white and red. I remember some people walking out of the theatre as they couldn't resist the violence shown in the images, but I guess this was absolutely understandable if you see it as the war effects on some teenagers and the way this changed their lives. The actors give all the tension the story needs and show all the hidden passion required. White and red again. Certainly one of the most compelling films made in Spain in recent times.
Highly recommended.
This film "El mar"("The sea")was produced in 2000 and it was not much successful here in Spain maybe because of its hard images and very "art house" nature. Despite the fact that it was released on VHS video some years ago, it hasn't been released on DVD in Spain yet. To my surprise I found it here in Amazon and I ordered it inmediately. But the biggest surprise was to see that the DVD producers had chosen the ORIGINAL Catalan soundtrack and not the Spanish version released in the rest of Spain outside Catalonia. I was sure that this would have been the chosen one as on the DVD is quoted as "Spanish". This film is set in 1930's Mallorca, and as you may know at the time Catalan was the usual language there. The film itself was a Catalan production, so it's normal that the original version here is the Catalan and not the Spanish dubbed one. That's why the director is named Agustí Villaronga and not "Agustín" which is the Spanish translation for Agustí. Ángela Molina for exemple plays a Spanish character on the film and therefore she speaks Spanish, but the rest speak in Mallorca's Catalan, slightly different to the one we speak here in Catalonia. So, I was very happy to listen to the original language on this edition.
I was really impressed by the film, certainly not for everyone, but a very interesting and artistic one. It's a dark story about violence, religion and gay love in post-war Mallorca. Absolutely white and red. I remember some people walking out of the theatre as they couldn't resist the violence shown in the images, but I guess this was absolutely understandable if you see it as the war effects on some teenagers and the way this changed their lives. The actors give all the tension the story needs and show all the hidden passion required. White and red again. Certainly one of the most compelling films made in Spain in recent times.
Highly recommended.
54 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
THE SEA
[El Mar]
(Spain - 1999)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Stereo SR
Agustin Villaronga's sexual psychodrama is based on an autobiographical work by Blai Bonet (1926-1997), a Catalan poet, novelist and art critic whose career was shaped in part by religion and illness, most especially the battle with tuberculosis which marred his early life. Villaronga's adaptation is set in 1946 and attends the fortunes of three old friends - two men and a woman - whose lives have been deeply affected by a vicious crime they witnessed in childhood. Reunited in a remote TB sanatorium, the wild and reckless Ramallo (Roger Casamajor) discovers that fellow patient Tur (Bruno Bergonzini) has retreated into the Christian faith, whilst Francisca (Antonia Torrens) has become a nun, ministering to the sick and dying. Subsequently, both Tur and Francisca become sexually attracted to Ramallo, generating conflict with their religious beliefs and culminating in a sudden eruption of horrific violence.
In a brief statement written exclusively for the original UK DVD release, Villaronga - who made an unforgettable impact with his debut IN A GLASS CAGE (1986), a masterpiece of psychological horror often cited (correctly) as one of the most disturbing films ever made - describes THE SEA as "one of [his] most secret and treasured projects for more than 20 years", inspired by personal recollections of childhood spent in his homeland Mallorca. However, the eventful narrative is also slow and ponderous, and imbued with a tangible sense of pain and raw emotion. The sanatorium is a desolate place where society's outcasts mark time as their condition either improves or deteriorates, and where terminally-ill patients are wheeled away in the dead of night to suffer their final hideous agonies behind closed doors, surrounded by the trappings of an absent God. The script - co-written by Villaronga, Antoni Aloy and Biel Mesquida - deliberately foregrounds spiritual matters, only to savage them with merciless abandon, describing characters whose lives are constrained and diminished by strict adherence to their religious convictions, while the slow-burning sexual tension that simultaneously divides and binds the central protagonists convey a very real sense of imminent tragedy.
The three leads - macho Casamajor, sensitive Bergonzini and pious Torrens - make their feature debut here, and they all give performances of astonishing depth and complexity, while supporting players include Simon Andreu (a veteran leading man who's worked all over Europe since the 1960's, though mostly in Spain) and Angela Molina, an accomplished Spanish actress, seen recently in LIVE FLESH (1997). The film's stately pace and magisterial gloom is due principally to the combined talents of cinematographer Jaume Peracaula and art director Francesc Candini (both of whom have worked with Villaronga before), while editor Raul Roman builds the narrative to an emotional crescendo, underlined by a driving, elegiac music score by Javier Navarrete, another frequent Villaronga collaborator who performed similar duties on Guillermo del Toro's highly-acclaimed THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001). Ultimately, however, the movie is an acquired taste: Villaronga doesn't shy away from male nudity, gay sex and sudden outbursts of bloody violence, but his solemn, 'art-house' approach to the material precludes any suggestion of exploitation. As such, some will embrace the film's sophisticated Gothic ambitions, while others will reject its cold austerity.
NB. The director is credited on-screen under the slightly abbreviated spelling 'Agusti' Villaronga.
[El Mar]
(Spain - 1999)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Stereo SR
Agustin Villaronga's sexual psychodrama is based on an autobiographical work by Blai Bonet (1926-1997), a Catalan poet, novelist and art critic whose career was shaped in part by religion and illness, most especially the battle with tuberculosis which marred his early life. Villaronga's adaptation is set in 1946 and attends the fortunes of three old friends - two men and a woman - whose lives have been deeply affected by a vicious crime they witnessed in childhood. Reunited in a remote TB sanatorium, the wild and reckless Ramallo (Roger Casamajor) discovers that fellow patient Tur (Bruno Bergonzini) has retreated into the Christian faith, whilst Francisca (Antonia Torrens) has become a nun, ministering to the sick and dying. Subsequently, both Tur and Francisca become sexually attracted to Ramallo, generating conflict with their religious beliefs and culminating in a sudden eruption of horrific violence.
In a brief statement written exclusively for the original UK DVD release, Villaronga - who made an unforgettable impact with his debut IN A GLASS CAGE (1986), a masterpiece of psychological horror often cited (correctly) as one of the most disturbing films ever made - describes THE SEA as "one of [his] most secret and treasured projects for more than 20 years", inspired by personal recollections of childhood spent in his homeland Mallorca. However, the eventful narrative is also slow and ponderous, and imbued with a tangible sense of pain and raw emotion. The sanatorium is a desolate place where society's outcasts mark time as their condition either improves or deteriorates, and where terminally-ill patients are wheeled away in the dead of night to suffer their final hideous agonies behind closed doors, surrounded by the trappings of an absent God. The script - co-written by Villaronga, Antoni Aloy and Biel Mesquida - deliberately foregrounds spiritual matters, only to savage them with merciless abandon, describing characters whose lives are constrained and diminished by strict adherence to their religious convictions, while the slow-burning sexual tension that simultaneously divides and binds the central protagonists convey a very real sense of imminent tragedy.
The three leads - macho Casamajor, sensitive Bergonzini and pious Torrens - make their feature debut here, and they all give performances of astonishing depth and complexity, while supporting players include Simon Andreu (a veteran leading man who's worked all over Europe since the 1960's, though mostly in Spain) and Angela Molina, an accomplished Spanish actress, seen recently in LIVE FLESH (1997). The film's stately pace and magisterial gloom is due principally to the combined talents of cinematographer Jaume Peracaula and art director Francesc Candini (both of whom have worked with Villaronga before), while editor Raul Roman builds the narrative to an emotional crescendo, underlined by a driving, elegiac music score by Javier Navarrete, another frequent Villaronga collaborator who performed similar duties on Guillermo del Toro's highly-acclaimed THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001). Ultimately, however, the movie is an acquired taste: Villaronga doesn't shy away from male nudity, gay sex and sudden outbursts of bloody violence, but his solemn, 'art-house' approach to the material precludes any suggestion of exploitation. As such, some will embrace the film's sophisticated Gothic ambitions, while others will reject its cold austerity.
NB. The director is credited on-screen under the slightly abbreviated spelling 'Agusti' Villaronga.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Rather Pointless
2 Oct 2006
Format:DVD
I had heard nothing but good things about this film, and when it showed up in the "gay" section of my local video store, I purchased it, fully expecting a superior viewing experience. I'm afraid I was terribly disappointed.
I like art films and foreign films as much as the next person - about 20% of my large video collection (1,800 DVDs and growing) could be labeled as such. But I just couldn't get past the movie's major shortcomings.
To begin with, the plot was not only rather thin, it was terribly confusing. The entire opening sequence had me scratching my head wondering why certain people were being killed, and how such small children (no matter how jaded or exposed to the harshness of war) could possibly be so cruel and violent. And the premise that all three principal characters meet later at a TB sanitarium was a little far fetched. Yes, I understood that the story was intended to show how children who witness life's cruelties can grow up to become truly warped human beings, but the motivations and actions of the main characters were not really explained at all. The main character, Romallo, was so cruel, violent and unpredictable that I found it impossible to have any sympathy for him, and the character of Tur was just plain strange. The title ("The Sea") seems to refer to one short (and rather pointless, when you get down to it) speech by Romallo, and it never really came up again.
But my biggest objection was one I have voiced before - and that is the marketing of this DVD. It is being aggressively marketed to a gay audience, even though the plot and characters have nothing overtly gay about them. Once again, the distributors are attempting to lure gay male viewers with a sexually provocative photo on the box, and the promise of "male nudity" and a "graphic gay rape scene". They act as if gay viewers couldn't possibly be interested in a film UNLESS it has a naked hunk or two and some sort of graphic gay sex. I, for one, find this presumption insulting. I buy documentaries to be informed, comedies to laugh, and dramas to be challenged, entertained and intellectually stimulated. When I want porno, I'll buy porno, and the presence of a pretty face / body in a movie will not get my attention for that fact alone.
And, unlike some reviewers at other sites, I did not think this film was a step up from the director's previous film, In A Glass Cage, which, although far more twisted and bizarre than El Mar, had an element of creepy suspense that at least kept my interest. The plot of El Mar was actually rather boring, and the fact that the characters actions made little sense did not help.
I will say that El Mar is beautifully filmed, and the acting is really very good. But that just wasn't enough to save it for me.
I like art films and foreign films as much as the next person - about 20% of my large video collection (1,800 DVDs and growing) could be labeled as such. But I just couldn't get past the movie's major shortcomings.
To begin with, the plot was not only rather thin, it was terribly confusing. The entire opening sequence had me scratching my head wondering why certain people were being killed, and how such small children (no matter how jaded or exposed to the harshness of war) could possibly be so cruel and violent. And the premise that all three principal characters meet later at a TB sanitarium was a little far fetched. Yes, I understood that the story was intended to show how children who witness life's cruelties can grow up to become truly warped human beings, but the motivations and actions of the main characters were not really explained at all. The main character, Romallo, was so cruel, violent and unpredictable that I found it impossible to have any sympathy for him, and the character of Tur was just plain strange. The title ("The Sea") seems to refer to one short (and rather pointless, when you get down to it) speech by Romallo, and it never really came up again.
But my biggest objection was one I have voiced before - and that is the marketing of this DVD. It is being aggressively marketed to a gay audience, even though the plot and characters have nothing overtly gay about them. Once again, the distributors are attempting to lure gay male viewers with a sexually provocative photo on the box, and the promise of "male nudity" and a "graphic gay rape scene". They act as if gay viewers couldn't possibly be interested in a film UNLESS it has a naked hunk or two and some sort of graphic gay sex. I, for one, find this presumption insulting. I buy documentaries to be informed, comedies to laugh, and dramas to be challenged, entertained and intellectually stimulated. When I want porno, I'll buy porno, and the presence of a pretty face / body in a movie will not get my attention for that fact alone.
And, unlike some reviewers at other sites, I did not think this film was a step up from the director's previous film, In A Glass Cage, which, although far more twisted and bizarre than El Mar, had an element of creepy suspense that at least kept my interest. The plot of El Mar was actually rather boring, and the fact that the characters actions made little sense did not help.
I will say that El Mar is beautifully filmed, and the acting is really very good. But that just wasn't enough to save it for me.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Amazing Cinematography! Beautiful Made
21 Jan 2005
Format:DVD
Don't pay to much attention to other reviews. If you like cinema, If you like to see artistic movies, beyond the superficial, If you estimate a good cinematography or just enjoy watching a concert of good takes and pictures, Then BUY this film! You won't regret it
It's maybe not 5 stars, the script and story are a little bit week, I admit, but not less than 4 stars, It's impossible to not be touch by the beauty and the imagery of this movie.
It's maybe not 5 stars, the script and story are a little bit week, I admit, but not less than 4 stars, It's impossible to not be touch by the beauty and the imagery of this movie.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Good Acting, Good Locales, Disconnected script
21 Nov 2005
Format:DVD
El Mar is a Spanish film about the toll the Spanish Civil War has on a group of young children who witness a mass murder and subsequently witness and/or participate in the murder of another child.
El Mar (The Sea) tells the story of three children: two boys (Andreu and Manuel)and a girl (Francisca). They grow up in a remote village where corruption from the Civil War still reaches them. The father of one of their friends is a corrupt official who murders those who would oppose him or fight in the resistance to the government. Their father of their friend, Paul, has been murdered by this man, so they determine to torture their friend as payback (and as only the mind of children can work) by forcing the boy to drink castor oil. However, things go wrong when the boy - Julia - taunts them and tells them that he just might have his father kill their fathers or them. Paul becomes enraged and eventually kills Julia - a feat that all the other children witness.
Paul cannot live with his guilt - so at the tender age of 10 - he commits suicide.
Flash forward ten years... The remaining children (Andreu, Manuel, and Francisa) all end up in the same location at the same time - a Tuberculosis Clinic set way in the countryside. Manuel has been there for some time as a patient, while Fancisca has been there for a while - but she is there as a nun/nurse. Andreu shows up as a patient shortly thereafter.
The rest of the story follows Andreu as he attempts to connect with his old friends AND disassociate himself from the crime lord for whom he has been not only a mule for stolen goods, but also a forced lover.
The attempts to show us the breadth of the corruption his crime lord has and how it is all but impossible for him to escape it. But it also takes us down an odd path, where we learn that Manuel has been in love with Andreu since they were children and Manuel has turned to religion to fight these sexual urges - and has maintained his virginity in the process.
Andreu is the driving force of the story, but the script lacks a cohesiveness to make us believe that this story is anything more than a character study. Is this about the effects of the war on these adult children? Is this a crime story? Is this a story about redemption lost and found? It doesn't effectively demonstrate a clear thread of synergy to provide us with a clear cut answer.
The acting is quite good and the settings sufficiently oppressive and realistic. This and another Spanish Civil War based film - The Devil's Backbone - give us glimpses into a child's mind with regard to the war and its effects - but they don't really tell the story in such a way as there is a complete resolution that satisfies.
El Mar more sufficiently resolves its storyline, but it isn't satisfying, because it doesn't make the connection between the children's past and their ultimate fate at the movie's end.
Gregg Araki deals with the emotional toll on children as they become adults much more effectively in Mysterious Skin. Although these two films have subject matter far different, the emotional framework is not that far apart.
In the clinic, Manuel has a pet cat that he dotes on. In a fit of anger Andreu kicks the cat almost to death (this is a particularly cruel scene and one I did NOT like in the least). Manuel sees this take place and does nothing - he says nothing - and he sheds not a tear. It doesn't fit with this emotionally fragile man, who constantly reads the Bible). It further doesn't fit that he would give the dying animal back to Andreu to put out of its misery, nor once Andreu does, that Manuel, upon burying the animal, is quite lighthearted.
Villaronga would have done well to show us a more consistent emotional thread for these children. Maybe it's an American's emotional expectations being cast on a film that reflects only a Spanish emotional demonstration...I doubt this though, since my best friend is Spanish and is sufficiently emotional in all areas. No, I think this is just a glossed over area of the script of a film that should have been far more emotionally engaging.
El Mar (The Sea) tells the story of three children: two boys (Andreu and Manuel)and a girl (Francisca). They grow up in a remote village where corruption from the Civil War still reaches them. The father of one of their friends is a corrupt official who murders those who would oppose him or fight in the resistance to the government. Their father of their friend, Paul, has been murdered by this man, so they determine to torture their friend as payback (and as only the mind of children can work) by forcing the boy to drink castor oil. However, things go wrong when the boy - Julia - taunts them and tells them that he just might have his father kill their fathers or them. Paul becomes enraged and eventually kills Julia - a feat that all the other children witness.
Paul cannot live with his guilt - so at the tender age of 10 - he commits suicide.
Flash forward ten years... The remaining children (Andreu, Manuel, and Francisa) all end up in the same location at the same time - a Tuberculosis Clinic set way in the countryside. Manuel has been there for some time as a patient, while Fancisca has been there for a while - but she is there as a nun/nurse. Andreu shows up as a patient shortly thereafter.
The rest of the story follows Andreu as he attempts to connect with his old friends AND disassociate himself from the crime lord for whom he has been not only a mule for stolen goods, but also a forced lover.
The attempts to show us the breadth of the corruption his crime lord has and how it is all but impossible for him to escape it. But it also takes us down an odd path, where we learn that Manuel has been in love with Andreu since they were children and Manuel has turned to religion to fight these sexual urges - and has maintained his virginity in the process.
Andreu is the driving force of the story, but the script lacks a cohesiveness to make us believe that this story is anything more than a character study. Is this about the effects of the war on these adult children? Is this a crime story? Is this a story about redemption lost and found? It doesn't effectively demonstrate a clear thread of synergy to provide us with a clear cut answer.
The acting is quite good and the settings sufficiently oppressive and realistic. This and another Spanish Civil War based film - The Devil's Backbone - give us glimpses into a child's mind with regard to the war and its effects - but they don't really tell the story in such a way as there is a complete resolution that satisfies.
El Mar more sufficiently resolves its storyline, but it isn't satisfying, because it doesn't make the connection between the children's past and their ultimate fate at the movie's end.
Gregg Araki deals with the emotional toll on children as they become adults much more effectively in Mysterious Skin. Although these two films have subject matter far different, the emotional framework is not that far apart.
In the clinic, Manuel has a pet cat that he dotes on. In a fit of anger Andreu kicks the cat almost to death (this is a particularly cruel scene and one I did NOT like in the least). Manuel sees this take place and does nothing - he says nothing - and he sheds not a tear. It doesn't fit with this emotionally fragile man, who constantly reads the Bible). It further doesn't fit that he would give the dying animal back to Andreu to put out of its misery, nor once Andreu does, that Manuel, upon burying the animal, is quite lighthearted.
Villaronga would have done well to show us a more consistent emotional thread for these children. Maybe it's an American's emotional expectations being cast on a film that reflects only a Spanish emotional demonstration...I doubt this though, since my best friend is Spanish and is sufficiently emotional in all areas. No, I think this is just a glossed over area of the script of a film that should have been far more emotionally engaging.
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