The Grandfather (1998)

Nominated for an Academy Award(R) as Best Foreign Language Film, THE GRANDFATHER is a deeply compelling tale of love, honor, and secrecy. When news of his son's death returns proud, old Count Albrit home to Spain after years abroad, he's pleased to meet his two charming young granddaughters. But he also carries the burden of a newly discovered family secret: one of the girls is not his son's daughter ... and therefore not his true heir! Starring original cast members from the Oscar(R)-winning Spanish film sensation ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER -- you'll be inescapably drawn into this powerful story as the determined Count sets out to discover which grannddaughter is worthy of his love and name!

BAD dubbed audio...beautiful scenery...2.5 stars rounded up

Scenery was great, filmed in some spectacular parts of Spain, and many times the cinematography did it justice. Despite all that, how the story was executed was almost a soap opera, coming across forced and contrived, and the dubbing was HORRENDOUS. I hope the dialogue was better in Spanish than the English subtitles, but badly delivered (and dubbed) lines tend to have a universal impact, regardless of the language. Oddly enough, the originally spoken lines appear to have been Spanish and then overdubbed again in Spanish....go figure...

The main female character (the mother) came across like some cheezy porn star character...I kept expecting her to bed down any of the dozen or so male characters in the movie in some ridiculous fashion (Oh Senior Perez...you're here to ask for a favor...and what favor would THAT be, por favor...). It wasn't her fault entirely as some of the costume and set designs just didn't hit the mark and wouldn't have been entirely out-of-place in a period-piece porn flick

Interestingly, in a reversal from most flicks about nobility and their lower class servants, the high-class land-owners in this picture are the moral and noble characters (even when they're broke and don't have money...they have their "honor!"). The low-class commoners (with the exception of a tutor) are portrayed as untrustworthy and conniving, even after they've gained wealth. The whole film had this subtle underlying current of "the good ol' days long gone" when the nobility kept things strict, fair and honorable, and how the unscrupulous lower-caste had slowly undermined the natural order of things.

The whole film (soundtrack included) came across as some sort of a less-than-skilled attempt at that "Cinema Paradiso" vibe (which was a flick I did like), where sentimentalism and tragedy are meant to pull at your heart strings. Only problem here for me is no strings were plucked...

The movie wasn't horrible (except for the dubbing...just can't see how people overlooked that...ESPECIALLY native Spanish speakers), as I did enjoy the scenery quite a bit, and the second half was a bit better than the first, but as a whole, it just didn't hit the mark. With the exception of the grandfather and the dude who played the tutor (and they weren't Oscar material), most of the acting was just uninspired, which was on par with the dialogue and story line and tended to fit the movie as a whole

All in all, a less-talented production of a "Cinema Paradiso" type of story. And if you loved that (and aren't picky about bad dubbing), you might like this a bit as well.

Finally to qualify myself as a reviewer, I love plenty of foreign flicks, and have no problems reading subtitles. For me this one just wasn't up to par as a whole.
January 21, 2008

The Purgatory of souls lost between love and honor

This powerful Spanish film lost to the monster hit LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL in 1998.What a shame that such a wonderful and multi-layered gem lay undiscovered to me until now.
What on the surface appears to be a very simple story of a Grandfather wanting to know which of his two granddaughters is his blood,is frankly way more than what is presented at face value.Even down to the choices of music allowed by director Jose Luis Garci,THE GRANDFATHER is an engrossing story about the end of one way of life and the inevitability of the new.Spain,like many countries, is embarking on the the twentieth century.Governments have changed,the bourgeois class has risen in worth,aristocratic families have little left than their honored names and the players at this time are caught "in the blessed purgatory" between the uncomfortable shift of the loyalty and honor to the old system vs.independent living and a move towards equal living and opportunity for all citizens.Count Albrit,the Grandfather, has returned to one of his many homes to uncover the lineage of his two granddaughters.Bloodline is the all important and all-consuming importance for the Count.He knows that his daughter-in-law,somewhere along the line,had an affair on his son,and will only recognize his true blood as the rightful heiress to a family fortune that extends seven generations,but is no where near in fortune as it once was.The townspeople treat the Grandfather with "loyalty and respect and honor",but as the film points out,they are now no longer subservient to his family...or are they? Count Albrit, though "respecting" the people in their new positions in life,still has the old aristocratic "bow to me" and is insulted by their "ingratitude" for how his family's benevolence over the years has made it possible for them to be where they are today.Each group is willing to betray the other, just as The Grandfather,Count Albrit is willing to deny one girl in favor of another.The screenplay returns us time and again to the English Bard Shakespeare's question of "To be or not to be;whether 'tis nobler..." and to the romance and freedom that has resulted in France.Even the music of English composers Edward Elgar (English) and Eris Satie (France) play up against the music of Spain showing us that Spain's old way must decline and new life must be accommodated.The the mother of the two girls is the perfect metaphor of this struggle.She married out of duty and what she thought was love,only to fall for a painter at some point and give birth to one of the two girls.She herself is a victim caught between the decaying old and the rising new.Even the two girls are different in their respective attitudes.The eldest,Dolly,has the aristocratic attitude and feels a sense of superiority for her Albrit heritage; the younger,Nelly, is a free-spirited artist who wants to experience all that life offers.Count Albrit thinks he knows which girl is his blood.Does he...and how can he deny love to the other in order to honor one? This dilemma plays right up to the last minute of the film.It is a thought-provoking script and sublimely acted by the same cast that starred in ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER.The cinematography is Raul Perez Cubero is some of the finest ever done.This is a "thinker's film" for those who question which is nobler;LOVE or HONOR? Truly a magnificent piece of film making. November 28, 2007

Grandfather- Sound disaster

I purchased this dvd because it is so rare to find a good film that is rated PG. The soundtrack was so bad that I had to stop watching it. The children's voices sound like they are done by adults- badly. This may be a good film, but I will never know because the dvd isn't worth watching. It sounds like it was dubbed into Spanish, but that is the original language. May 19, 2007

Love and Honor

EL ABUELO (The Grandfather) began as a 1954 novel by Benito Pérez Galdós and was adapted for the screen by writer/director José Luis Garci in 1998, a year when it was nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar. It is a period piece of epic proportions, an immensely beautiful work both visually and emotionally, that assures the film's becoming a beloved standard in the cinematic library.

Don Rodrigo de Arista Potestad (Fernando Fernán Gómez, the brilliant Peruvian actor from such films as 'Butterfly', 'Belle Epoque', 'All About My Mother, etc) is a crusty old aristocrat who has been in America for the Gold Rush who returns to Spain (a small town of Jerusa) when his son dies. He concern is about a letter his son wrote to him that one of his two granddaughters was sired by another man, an artist, and the old man is determined to find out which one of the granddaughters should rightfully inherit is name and his money. He arrives to meet Dolly (Cristina Cruz) and Nelly (Cristina Cruz) and their beautiful mother Doña Lucrecia (Cayetana Guillén Cuervo), a woman who has survived emotional hardships but has generously favored the small town with gifts while giving her daughters in home schooling by the intelligent, sensitive Don Pío Coronado (Rafael Alonso) who has been forsaken by his own family. The once butler of the home Senén Corchado (Agustín González) has been freed to become an oily capitalist, eager to squander the family money.

Don Rodrigo (Abuelo) challenges the family to maintain the honor of his name, becomes fast friends with Don Pío, and the two set about to discover whether it is Dolly or Nelly that is the true bloodline granddaughter. The manner in which the investigation proceeds includes the warm relationship Abuelo forms with the girls, the way he decides the future of Lucrecia, and the bonding he forms with Pío. It is Pío who challenges Abuelo with the question of which is more important, honor or love, and it is this question that suffuses the resolution of the story with surprises and with extraordinary tenderness.

The actors are all superb with special kudos to Fernando Fernán Gómez and Rafael Alonso. The cinematography of the coastlines of Spain is breathtakingly beautiful and the manner in which Raúl Pérez Cubero frames his images glows. The original musical score is by Manuel Balboa whose love theme is hauntingly played by both piano and orchestra: the moments of music by Satie (Gymnopédie) and Elgar (the Nimrod variation from Enigma Variations) are beautifully performed by the Madrid Orchestra under the baton of Ángel Gil Ordóñez. The film is long (well over two hours) and there are some synchrony defects in the spoken soundtrack (?dubbing for the granddaughters' voices?), but these are minor flaws in an eloquently beautiful film. In Spanish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, February 07
February 12, 2007

The Grandfather

Excellent drama and interpretation of Fernando Fernan. The theme of the personal relationship is develop in this story thru different situations and issues. January 25, 2007

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