The House of Bernarda Alba
Based on the play by Federico Garci?a Lorca, THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA is the story of a cold-blooded provincial widow and her five adult daughters.  Bernarda (Irene Gutie?rrez Caba) rules her wealthy household with an iron fist, forbidding her daughters to socialize  with, let alone marry, the local people she considers their social inferieors.  After the death of their father, Bernarda locks her daughters in the house for an eight-year mourning period, acquiescing only to the courtship of her eldest, Angustias (Enriqueta Caballeira), by Pepe el Romano, a mysterious nobleman who arrives on horseback each evening. Because Pepe is the only eligible bachelor in town, the younger sisters fall in love with him as well.  Hardest hit is Adela (Ana Bele?n), the beauty of the family, whose illicit romance with Pepe has tragic conseqeunces for the entire family.  Beautifully shot and acted, the film conveys both the claustrophobia and beauty of a sequestered, all-female hosuehold.