# El Sur (film)

El Sur (The South) is a 1983 drama film directed by Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was produced by Elias Querejeta, and starred Icíar Bollaín as the adult main character. It is based on Adelaida García Morales' short novel of the same name.
As in the novella, the film takes place solely in the north of Spain. However, the novella picks up where the screenplay leaves off, taking Estrella on a journey to the south of Spain. Elías Querejeta, the film's producer, decided not to allow the filming of the latter 90 minutes, which would have been filmed in the south. Querejeta attributed this to a lack of financing, although neither Erice nor the film's cinematographer, José Luis Alcaine, believed that was the reason. Erice felt the film was incomplete and described it as an "unfinished drama" even though it was well received by critics.

## Plot

In 1957, Estrella, a young girl living in northern Spain, awakens to learn her father Agustín has died. Seven years prior, he had worked as a physician and a dowser who divinely locates underground water using a pendulum. One night, after he returns home, Estrella tries to enter his father's attic but is prevented by her mother Julia. Meanwhile, Estrella is educated by her mother in calligraphy and literature. She learns from Julia that her father had lived in southern Spain—"El Sur"—during his childhood, but left after a dispute with Estrella's grandfather.
Months pass, and Estrella's grandmother Rosario and her friend Milagros arrive to attend Estrella's First Communion. One night before bedtime, Milagros explains that during the Spanish Civil War, her grandfather supported Francisco Franco while Agustín was a Republican. When the Civil War ended, and Franco had assumed power, Agustín vowed to never return to the south again. Estrella proceeds with her communion ceremony and dances with her father afterwards. Shortly after, she enters her father's study and finds drawings he had made of his former lover named Irene Ríos.
Later, Estrella arrives at a movie theater, and discovers Irene Ríos is an actress whose name is featured on a film poster. She asks a box office clerk for a program, and watches her father walking into the theater to view her film. He leaves early and arrives at a café where he writes a letter to Irene, whose real name is Laura, asking for her whereabouts. Days later, Irene replies curious why he is contacting her after several years. She also details her career struggles and life experiences as an older woman since they stopped dating. Depressed, Agustín leaves but returns home the next morning with no one noticing and stops using his pendulum. In frustration, Estrella hides underneath her bed for several hours, which causes her mother and their maid Casilda to look for her. Julia eventually finds her while Agustín remains isolated.
In 1957, Estrella matures into a young teenager. At home, she is being romantically pursued by a young man, nicknamed "El Carioco." She traverses the theater looking for film posters with Irene's name featured, but finds none. Her father invites her to the Grand Hotel where Estrella converses with her father about the night she followed him to the theater and café. She leaves, and sometime later, Agustín dies by suicide near a lakeshore. Estrella finds a receipt of a long-distance telephone call among her father's belongings, but decides to tell no one. She becomes ill, and her mother allows her to stay with her grandmother in southern Spain to recuperate.

## Cast

* Omero Antonutti - Agustín Arenas
* Sonsoles Aranguren - Estrella, 8 years
* Icíar Bollaín - Estrella, 15 years
* Aurore Clément - Irene Ríos / Laura
* Lola Cardona - Julia, Agustín's wife
* Rafaela Aparicio - Milagros
* Francisco Merino - Irene Ríos's Co-Star
* María Caro - Casilda
* José Vivó - Grand Hotel barman
* Germaine Montero - Doña Rosario
* José Luis Fernández, El Pirri - El Carioco

## Reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times highlighted the performances by Omero Antonutti and Icíar Bollaín, but felt the film lacked "a dominating performance like that of Ana Torrent in [The Spirit of the Beehive]. Everything about El Sur, including the highly theatrical lighting, is so artfully composed that it seems to be more about film making than characters or ideas."
The film was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Gold Hugo at the 1983 Chicago International Film Festival.
El Sur was voted the eighth-best Spanish film by professionals and critics in a 1996 Spanish cinema centenary.