Spain’s answer to Elizabeth is a 16th-century political conspiracy drama inspired by the true story of the “mad” Queen Joan and transformed by septuagenarian Vicente Aranda (Lovers, Jealousy) into an earthy bodice ripper. Age certainly hasn’t dulled his taste for hot-blooded cinema. Spanish beauty Pilar López de Ayala, with her doe eyes and milky complexion, is the royal innocent sacrificed in a political marriage to the swarthy Prince Philip (Daniele Liotti with a Fabio mane of hair), a womanizing cad whose wandering eye transforms the naive virgin into a tempestuously jealous wife. Aranda matches Pedro Almodóvar in the arena of self-destructive love, obsessive passion, sweaty cinematic sex, and deliriously melodramatic spectacle. If this portrait of Joan as a volatile package of emotional nitroglycerin borders on melodramatic cliché, López de Ayala gives her a fiery, full-blooded passion and Aranda mounts her romantic obsession in an unhinged, undeniably lusty costume drama. –Sean Axmaker
Based on historical accounts, director Vincent Aranda has created a lavish, sumptuous film set in 16th century Flandes, Spain. Princess Juana de Castilla (Pilar Lopez de Ayala) as come to fulfill her aristocratic obligation in an arranged marriage with Archduke Felipe of Austria (Daniele Liotti).
What begins as a great romance quickly degenerates into a very sad and depressing tale of infidelity on the part of Felipe and obsessive compulsive paranoia displayed by the frantic Juana. Juana’s obsession with her husbands affairs escalate behaviors that are soon the main subject of gossip for the aristocracy and the labeling of the desperate Juana as “Joan the Mad.” When Juana’s Mother and older brothers’ die unexpectedly she now becomes heir to the throne of Spain. Will she reign as Queen, or will Felipe succeed in having her proclaimed mad by the Spanish court and put away? Fine performances all around by this all Spanish cast, especially by the two main characters; Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Daniele Liotti. Also in a small but memorable role is the seductive beauty Manuela Arcuri as the Moorish princess Aixa-Beatriz. – Brian E. Erland
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Starring Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Daniele Liotti, Giuliano Gemma.