Luis García Berlanga Explained

Honorific-Prefix:Excelentísimo Señor Don
Luis García Berlanga
Honorific-Suffix:MMT
Birth Name:Luis García-Berlanga Martí
Birth Date:12 June 1921
Birth Place:Valencia, Spain
Death Place:Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain
Yearsactive:1951–2002
Spouse:María Jesús Manrique de Aragón (1954-2010, his death)
Children:4, including José Luis and Carlos

Luis García-Berlanga Martí MMT (12 June 1921 – 13 November 2010) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Acclaimed as a pioneer of modern Spanish cinema,[1] [2] his films are marked by social satire and acerbic critiques of Spanish culture under the Francoist dictatorship.[3] These include Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), which won the International Prize (Comedy Film) at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival,[4] Plácido (1961), nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962,[5] and The Executioner (1963), winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 24th Venice International Film Festival[6] He kept a long-time collaboration with screenwriter Rafael Azcona, with whom he co-wrote the scripts for seven of his films between 1961 and 1987.[7]

Early years

Berlanga was born on June 12, 1921, into an affluent family in the city of Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. His father was a Republican politician in the national parliament who was arrested and sentenced to death after the Spanish Civil war. He enrolled in the Blue Division in the Eastern Front of World War II to avoid having his father executed. In his youth, Berlanga studied law and philosophy, but in 1947 he decided to enter the (Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias Cinematográficas) in Madrid.[8] [9]

Career

His debut as a film director in 1951 was with the film That Happy Couple in which he worked with Juan Antonio Bardem. With Bardem, he is considered to be one of Spanish film renovators after the Spanish Civil War. They cofounded a film magazine, Objetivo, in 1953,[10] which existed until 1956.[11]

Among his films are masterpieces of Spanish cinema such as Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), in which he highlighted the stereotypes held by both the Spanish and the Americans regarding the culture of the other, as well as a social criticism of 1950s Francoist Spain, and the black comedy The Executioner (1963), a critical portrait about the capital punishment.[12]

Characteristic of his films are their sense of irony and the satires of different social and political situations. During the Francoist State, his ability to outwit the censors allowed him to make daring projects, including The Rocket from Calabuch (1956) and Miracles of Thursday (1957). His film Plácido (1961), a black comedy about poverty, received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film also entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival,[13] as well as Long Live the Bride and Groom in 1970.[14]

He later filmed (Life Size, 1974), an international co-production starring Michel Piccoli, which was not released in Spain until six years later due to Franco's censorship.[15] This was followed by La escopeta nacional (1978), Patrimonio nacional (1981), which entered into the 1981 Cannes Film Festival,[16] and Nacional III (1982), a satirical trilogy about the Leguineches, an impoverished aristocratic family.[17] His 1985 film La vaquilla (The Heifer), a comedy about the Civil War, was the highest-grossing Spanish film in Spain at the time.[18]

In 1968, he was head of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.[19] Other accolades include the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1986,[20] a membership at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1988,[21] and, in 1993, the Goya for Best Director for Everyone Off to Jail.[22] He was also awarded the Spanish National Cinematography Prize (Premio Nacional de Cinematografía) in 1980, the Italian Commendatore Order, the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts (Medalla de Oro de las Bellas Artes) in 1982,[23] an honorary degree granted by the University of Valencia in 1997,[24] and the Gold Medal of Merit in Labour (Medalla al Mérito en el Trabajo) in 2002.[25]

He won international prizes at several important film festivals, including Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Mar del Plata Film Festival. He has also been awarded a large number of national acknowledgements. At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival he won a prize as one of the world's ten most prominent film directors.[26]

Personal life and death

He was married in 1954 with María Jesús Manrique, and they had four sons. Two of his sons died in Madrid relatively young from liver diseases: Carlos Berlanga on 5 June 2002, at the age of 42, and Jorge Berlanga on 9 June 2011, at 52 years old.[27]

Berlanga died of natural causes in Madrid on 13 November 2010, at the age of 89.[28]

His closed coffin was on display at the Spanish Film Academy in Madrid before its burial in Pozuelo de Alarcón. Crowds of actors, artists, politicians and other admirers lined up to pay their respects. The president of the Academy, Álex de la Iglesia, stated: "He changed my life", while the director José Luis García Sánchez said: "He dignified an entire aesthetic tradition. On his tomb it should be read, instead of RIP, The End."[29] Pedro Almodóvar, who came to pay his respects to the "master", owner of a talent comparable, in his opinion, to other greats figures in the history of cinema, said "We always talk about Billy Wilder, but if Berlanga had made films in another language, the entire world would surrender before his coffin today. His characters spoke a lot and very fast, which made subtitling in another language very difficult".[30]

Legacy and influence

Berlanga's film style has influenced many contemporary Spanish filmmakers, which include Santiago Segura, Javier Fesser, Borja Cobeaga, Alberto Caballero,and Víctor García León.[31] The term, which refers to the surreal, to what is difficult to explain but absolutely possible within the imagination and way of being of the Spanish, has been admitted by the Royal Spanish Academy.[32] French actor Michel Piccoli, who worked with Berlanga on two films, said about him "He is Don Quixote... Well, he could also be Sancho." Francisco Franco, upon being told by his ministers that Berlanga was an anarchist, a Bolshevik and a communist, stated "He is much worse than that; he is a bad Spaniard."[33]

In 2008, he deposited in the Caja de las Letras number 1034 of the Instituto Cervantes an envelope containing a secret, which he asked not to be revealed until 12 June 2021, when the centenary of his birth would be celebrated.[34] On 9 June 2021, three days before the centenary, his grandchildren Fidel and Jorge opened the box and revealed the secret contents of the envelope: an unpublished script titled Viva Rusia!, co-written by the filmmaker himself, his son Jorge, Rafael Azcona and Manuel Hidalgo Ruiz, a project for the fourth film of the Leguineche family saga that was never filmed.[35] That same year, the Valencian Audiovisual Awards were renamed the Berlanga Awards by the regional ministry of Education, Culture and Sport from the 4th edition onward to pay homage to the Valencia-born filmmaker.[36]

In 2012, the Berlanga Film Museum (BFM) was inaugurated as an online museum dedicated exclusively to the work of the Spanish director.[37]

Filmography

Film

Year TitleDirectorWriterNotes
1953Welcome Mr. Marshall!
That Happy Couple Co-written and co-directed with Juan Antonio Bardem
1954Boyfriend in Sight
1956The Rocket from Calabuch
1957Miracles of Thursday
1958Familia Provisional
1961Plácido
1962Las cuatro verdades
1963The Executioner
1964El extraño viaje
1967Las Pirañas Argentine film
1970Long Live the Bride and Groom
1974 French film
1978
Una Noche Embarazosa
1981Patrimonio nacional
1982Nacional III
1985La vaquilla
1987Moros y Cristianos
1993Everyone Off to Jail
1999 Final feature-length film

Associate producer

Short Film

Year TitleDirectorWriterNotes
1948Paseos por una Guerra Antigua Documentary short film co-written and co-directed with Juan Antonio Bardem, Augustín Navarro & Florentino Soria
Tres Cantos
1949El Circo
1959Se Vende un TranvíaAlso supervisor
1963La Muerte y el LeñadorSegment of the anthology film "Las Cuatro Verdades"
2002El Sueño de la MaestraFinal short film

Television

Year TitleDirectorWriterNotes
1995Villarriba y VillabajoTelevisión Española series; 25 episodes
Co-creator with José Luis García Berlanga & Antonio Oliver
1997Blasco IbáñezTelevisión Española miniseries; 2 episodes

Acting roles

YearTitleRoleNotes
1959Se vende un tranviaComprador de la baliza aerostáticaShort Film
Uncredited
1967Las PirañasEspectador de cineUncredited
1968Días de viejo color Mr. Marshall
No somos de piedra Guardía Urbano
Tuset StreetAparicio
1969Sharon vestida de rojo Victor
1973Apunte sobre AnaShort film
1977Tigres de PapelMatón ultraderechista Uncredited
1980Cuentos EróticosHombre del metro
Nostalgia de Comedia MudaShort film
1981Tragala Perro
Retratos en el RetreteShort film
1982Un pasota con corbata
1984Dinero NegroPeris
1994La Vida Siempre es CortaShort film
1998Ni contigo ni sin tíDiosTV Series; Episode "Cuestión de Fe"
2001Corazón de bombón Berlanga
El ApagonShort film
Hola Artemio
Extranjeros de sí mismosHimselfDocumentary film

Awards and nominations

Cannes Film Festival

Year Category Film Result
1953Grand Prize of the FestivalWelcome Mr. Marshall!
1953Special Mention - For the ScreenplayWelcome Mr. Marshall!
1953International Prize - Comedy FilmWelcome Mr. Marshall!
1961Palme d'OrPlácido
1970Palme d'OrLong Live the Bride and Groom
1981Palme d'OrNational Heritage

Venice Film Festival

See main article: Venice Film Festival.

Year Category Film Result
1956Golden LionThe Rocket from Calabuch
1956OCIC AwardThe Rocket from Calabuch
1964Golden LionThe Executioner
1964FIPRESCI PrizeThe Executioner

Goya Awards

See main article: Goya Awards.

Year Category Film Result
1988Goya Award for Best Original ScreenplayMoors and Christians
1994Goya Award for Best Original ScreenplayEveryone Off to Jail
1994Goya Award for Best DirectorEveryone Off to Jail

Prince or Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts

See main article: Prince of Asturias Awards.

Mar del Plata International Film Festival

See main article: Mar del Plata International Film Festival.

Year Category Film Result
1999International Competition
1999OCIC AwardParís Tombuctú
1999FIPRESCI PrizeParís Tombuctú

Valladolid International Film Festival

See main article: Valladolid International Film Festival.

Sant Jordi Awards

See main article: Sant Jordi Awards.

Year Category Film Result
1962Best Spanish DirectorPlácido
1962Best FilmPlácido
1964Best FilmThe Executioner
1981Best FilmNational Heritage

Fotogramas de Plata

See main article: Fotogramas de Plata.

Onda Awards

See main article: Premios Ondas.

Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos

See main article: CEC Awards.

Year Category Film Result
1952"Jimeno" Revelation AwardThat Happy Couple
1954Best Original StoryWelcome Mr. Marshall!
1960Best Original StoryMiracles of Thursday
1962Best DirectorPlácido
1964Best Original StoryThe Executioner
1994Best DirectorEveryone Off to Jail

Honours

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Weber . Bruce . 16 November 2010 . Luis Garcia Berlanga, Filmmaker, Is Dead at 89. . A28 . New York Times . 17 April 2024.
  2. News: Why Berlanga is Spain's greatest film director. 2021-09-06. Thomas Graham. BBC News . 17 April 2024.
  3. News: Holder . Stephen . 21 October 1994 . Critic's Choice/Film; Subversive Intentions Behind the Humor . New York Times .
  4. Web site: Festival de Cannes: Welcome Mr. Marshall! . 24 January 2009. festival-cannes.com.
  5. Web site: The 34th Academy Awards (1962) Nominees and Winners. 29 October 2011. oscars.org.
  6. Web site: 24th Venice International Film Festival. 1963. International Federation of Film Critics.
  7. News: "Berlanga y Azcona dejaron de hablarse, pero se seguían queriendo". 2021-10-27. Leonor Mayor Ortega. La Vanguardia .
  8. News: Luis Garcia Berlanga. London. The Daily Telegraph. 18 November 2010.
  9. https://elpais.com/elpais/2011/11/14/inenglish/1321251655_850210.html Berlanga's Blue Division notebooks
  10. Book: S. Marsh. Popular Spanish Film Under Franco: Comedy and the Weakening of the State. 4 February 2017. 15 December 2005. Palgrave Macmillan UK. 978-0-230-51187-3. 207.
  11. Book: Virginia Higginbotham. Spanish Film Under Franco. 4 February 2017. 27 January 2014. University of Texas Press. 978-0-292-76147-6. 25.
  12. News: The Executioner: By the Neck. 2016-10-26. David Chairns. The Criterion Collection .
  13. Web site: Festival de Cannes: Plácido . 24 February 2009. festival-cannes.com.
  14. Web site: Festival de Cannes: Long Live the Bride and Groom . 11 April 2009. festival-cannes.com.
  15. Web site: El director de cine Luis García Berlanga presenta a la prensa la película "Tamaño natural" que debido a la censura no se estrenó en España hasta seis años después. 1 January 1972. EFE. EFE.
  16. Web site: Festival de Cannes: National Heritage . 2 June 2009. festival-cannes.com.
  17. News: Sátiras en transición: la trilogía de los Leguineche. 2021-12-02. Redacción Cine con Ñ. Cine con Ñ.
  18. Variety. 7 May 1986. 379. Spain's All-Time Top Grossing Pics.
  19. Web site: Berlinale 1968: Juries . 1 March 2010. berlinale.de.
  20. Web site: Luis García Berlanga - Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes 1986. Fundación Princesa de Asturias . es. 10 February 2024 .
  21. News: Luis García Berlanga, miembro de la Academia de Bellas Artes. 26 April 1988. El País. El País .
  22. Web site: Todos a la cárcel . 3 December 2019 . . Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España.
  23. Real Decreto 397/1982, del 28 de febrero, por el que se concede la Medalla al Mérito en las Bellas Artes, en su categoría de oro, a don Luis García Berlanga.. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 28 February 1982. 30 August 2018. 34. 37503. es.
  24. News: Luis G. Berlanga, 'honoris causa' por la Politécnica de Valencia. 3 October 1997. Neus Caballer. El País .
  25. Real Decreto 1355/2002, de 13 de diciembre, por el que se concede la Medalla de Oro al Mérito en el Trabajo a don Luis García Berlanga.. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 13 December 2002. 30 August 2018. 34. 37503. es.
  26. Web site: Luis García Berlanga. Biografía. Instituto Cervantes.
  27. Web site: Muere en Madrid el escritor Jorge Berlanga. El Mundo. 9 June 2011.
  28. Web site: Luis García Berlanga obituary. 2010-11-14. The Guardian. Nick Caistor. 11 February 2024.
  29. News: Goodbye Mr Berlanga: nation's leading filmmaker dies at 89. 15 November 2010. El País. El País .
  30. Web site: El cine español despide a Berlanga con un hondo sentimiento de orfandad. 2010-11-14. Hoy. Miguel Lorenci. 20 April 2024.
  31. News: La huella de un cómico genial. 2021-05-09. Gregorio Belinchón. El País .
  32. Web site: Lo Berlanguiano como término cultural. Ignacio Lara Jornet. Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche . 2010.
  33. News: Adiós Mr. Berlanga. 13 November 2010. El País. El País . 20 April 2024.
  34. Web site: El secreto de Luis García Berlanga hasta 2021. El Mundo. 27 May 2008.
  35. [Las Provincias]
  36. Web site: Los galardones del audiovisual valenciano pasan a llamarse Premios Berlanga. Valencia Plaza. 29 September 2021.
  37. News: Inaugurado el Berlanga Film Museum. 2012-11-12. Cadena SER. Cadena SER .