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Directed by Alex de La Iglesia Cast: Cármen Maura, Sancho Gracia, Terele Pávez, Maria Asquerino, Kity Manver, Emilio Gutiérrez-Caba, Jesús Bonilla,Eduardo Antuña, Marta Fernández-Muro and Paca Gabaldón. 2000 |
Alex and Cármen scare the neighbourhood.
Cármen counts the prize money.
Cármen Maura fights for the money.
The neighbours want to share the money.
Cármen cannot escape the neighbours.
Alex de la Iglesia directs Cármen Maura and dresses horror in morning gown and slippers.
Darth Vader in Madrid’s rooftops. The war has started. Only somebody like Alex de la Iglesia, used to a diet of comics since he was very young, can bring this story to life. The director brings us a neighbourhood war in La Comunidad (Common Wealth), a scary reality about everyday life’s violence full of humour and interiors, a collection of characters in slippers and morning gowns in a real life neighbourhood in the middle of Madrid. The cause of this revolution is the lottery money hidden under a kitchen tile by one of the neighbours and found out by Cármen Maura, the estate agent who is showing one of the flats in the building.
The Story:
Julia, a forty something woman, works selling flats for a state agents. After finding 300 million pesetas hidden in a flat where a dead man lies, she has to face the selfish neighbours who want a share of the money.
The main character of Julia makes La Comunidad (Common Wealth) the first film by the Basque director where the main character is a woman. “We almost named the film just Julia after Carmen Maura’s character. La Comunidad is a woman’s film. She is the one pulling the strings of the story, even though she sometimes feel like a castaway on an island surrounded by monsters”.
The monsters are 15 neighbours who have been waiting 20 years for the top floor tenant to die, a lottery winner who refuses to share his earnings with the other neighbours.
Even though the story has no supernatural elements, La Comunidad resembles a horror film at many times.
De la Iglesia states: "The best is to move the characters, story and emotions of films such as Alien to a more everyday surroundings. Ripley is not a 2 metre high superwoman with a ray gun, but that woman we pass by on the street every morning when we go to buy bread. Horror is not a fantastic and strange thing, but everything that surrounds us. The monster is that man who looks at us with a strange face on the lift everyday without saying a word".
The actors:
The star cast of La Comunidad, with the excellent Cármen Maura as its head, includes famous names in the Spanish theatre such as: Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Sancho Gracia, Jesús Bonilla, Terele Pávez, Kiti Manver, Enrique Villén, Paca Gabaldón and María Asquerino, and others such as: Eduardo Antuña, Roberto Perdomo, Eduardo Gómez and Ane Gabarain who are going from promising actors to brilliant stars.
Alex comments: «I really wanted to work with such actors, authentic Spanish cinema, television and theatre classics. The give the dialogues another dimension, they multiply their strength by three, they make them better. Behind their faces lie thousand stories. They have a very rich internal life and know how to reflect it in their performances. That is why I have included so many close-ups. I felt the necessity to show their faces. I didn't want to lose anything from their performance. I have always tried to think about my actors before they think about me. In many scenes, my work as director has just been to try to reflect the intensity of their performances. In this film they are the stars, not me».
One of the actresses who best know the personal style of Alex de la Iglesia is Terele Pávez, who played a landlady in El día de la Bestia (The Day of the Beast). In La Comunidad she plays a terrifying woman again. «In Terele there are worlds of pain. Her glance reaches great depths- explains Alex- She is very sensitive. You get goose bumps. Any given sentence coming from her mouth gets transformed into a piece of Euripides "Las Bacantes"».
Amongst the actors who work with the Basque director for the first time is Emilio Gutiérrez Caba. «The character of de Emilio is called that way because of Emilio Aragón (a Spanish comedian). It's the typical polite and well behaved person, with his sweater hanging on his shoulder and carrying a Spanish flag on his watch strap. A bloke who takes his family to EuroDisney. The only thing is that he is rotten inside».
The rest of the cast is made up of a series of actors and actresses of a solid reputation. «Paca Gabaldón, Marta Fernández Muro, María Asquerino and Kiti Manver are a part of me. I have seen them a thousand times on TV. I grew up with them -remembers Alex-. Playing bad women, they can give the impression that they are full of bitterness and bile. You can cut them and will splash it out on you».
Alex de la Iglesia shoots in Madrid's rooftops.
Alex de la Iglesia and the steadycam operator in the rooftops of Madrid.
Another day at work for the cast and crew.
De la Iglesia does not believe that this, his fifth film after Acción Mutante, El Dia de la Bestia (The Day of the Beast), Perdita Durango and Muertos de Risa (Dying of Laughter), is a film for young viewers. Even if they watch it and like it, he does not want to present it as the typical young comedy. It is a suspense film full of neighbour horror with a cast of classical theatre cast de la Iglesia always admired.
In the beginning, making La Comunidad was like a dare, says Alex de la Iglesia. A year ago I told Andrés Vicente Gómez I would be able to make a thriller in only one set. The idea was to use very few resources to get great results. The less resources the better. In the first versions of the script everything took place in a flat. In the end, Jorge Guerricaechevarría and I had to take the action to the stairwell and get to the roof, but the spirit has been the same all throughout. We both like those kind of stories where there is a crime, a mystery, a hidden treasure and many characters locked up in only one set: an old house, a castle, a theatre…
José Luis Arrizabalaga and Arturi García, artistic directors in all of de la Iglesia’s films, have made a great work in the interiors of the film. With a budget of £400 million Alex de la Iglesia has demonstrated he continues making….
La comunidad was shot in the very centre of Madrid, inside an old building redecorated for the occasion, and around Puerta del Sol (the very centre of Madrid). This is a film that reflects everyday life in Spain, very castizo (popular of Madrid) and with a horrific Spanish tone. «It's the typical house in Madrid shabby on the outside but well kept inside. They were going to demolish it and rebuild it. We built the lift in the hole by the staircase. I am happy, we have made great use of the sets like you won't believe».
La Comunidad on DVD
The terrific combination of de la Iglesia and Maura.
The team of La Comunidad.
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Genre: Black Comedy -Thriller Length: Format: 16/9 Widescreen Rated: Awards: 3 Goya Awards:
Fotogramas Magazine:
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Special Features:
Language: Spanish & Director's Commentary Subtitles:
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