The film, made up of winks that are equally recognizable and predictable, openly honored the most diverse filmmakers
Fernando Trueba was always clear: when he directed his first feature, it would be titled ‘Opera Prima’, and it would be the story of a boy who meets his cousin in Madrid’s Plaza de la Opera.
Fernando Rodríguez Trueba, better known as Fernando Trueba, was born in Madrid on January 18, 1955. He is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Member of a very large family consisting of eight brothers, the youngest of whom is also the director, writer and screenwriter David Trueba.
Fernando started his studies at the Faculty of Information Sciences in Madrid and later worked as a film critic for several publications, including the newspaper El País, and directed the film magazine ‘Casablanca’. He made his directorial debut with several short films that he made with his former classmates as actors, Óscar Ladoire, Antonio Resines, or with the contemporary film critic Carlos Boyero, where with his school friends he created the so-called ‘Escuela de Yucatán’, a name that originated from the cafeteria that existed in the Glorieta de Bilbao in Madrid, where they met every morning and argued at the faculty.
Fernando started making short films with his friends as actors or technicians. They were ‘In Legitimate Defense’, ‘Tribute to Trois’, ‘The Lion in Love’ and ‘Carlos 82’. And in 1980 he found the opportunity to direct a feature film, with almost no money, but with a very funny script, which, as promised, he called “Opera Prima”, which he wrote together with Óscar Ladoire.
As in his short films, he names his friends and classmates, Oscar Ladoire and Antonio Rasines as protagonists, who thus debut in the feature film and become actors (Resines was supposed to become a producer, but he would not leave acting). He also gives Paula Molina (‘Angela Molina’s younger sister) her first chance in front of the camera. The cast is completed with Kiti Manver, Marisa Paredes or El Gran Wyoming.
‘Opera Prima’, composed of winks that are equally recognizable and predictable, openly honored the most diverse film makers. Shot in just four weeks in Madrid in December 1979, the film follows Matías (Oscar Ladoire), a young 25-year-old journalist, divorced and with a young son, who walks his bitterness through Madrid until he falls in love with his niece. Violeta (Paula Molina), 18, a girl with a passion for violin studying at the Teatro Real conservatory, with a hippie style, whom he found at the exit of the metro in Plaza de la Ópera. Although he doesn’t want to believe it and despite the advice of his friend León (Antonio Resines), she is the woman of his life, so he quickly settles in his house. When she befriends a quirky musician, Nicky (Luis González Regueral), a conservatory classmate with whom she wants to go to Machu Pichu, Matías is consumed by jealousy and his relationship with Violeta ends as she gets closer to the musician. , and Matías, with his overwhelming sarcasm, goes from doing all kinds of shit to being all alone.
The film premiered at Cine Paz in Madrid on April 2, 1980, to bridge a programming gap, the necessary quota of Spanish cinema to be able to release an American blockbuster, and that for just two weeks. During its first week, the film is an absolute failure. Released as “a love movie where you never say I love you,” Trueba herself goes to the cinema every afternoon and checks how no one enters, perhaps an unwitting nosy. But in what would be its second and final week on the bill, a miracle happens and the cinema begins to fill with people. Viewers have a great time and start recommending the film, which will remain on the Paz screen for several months.
Ópera prima’, along with Fernando Colomo’s comedies, gave way to what has been dubbed the ‘new Madrid comedy’. Recorded with direct sound, until then unusual in Spanish cinema, it achieves a tone of spontaneity and was a breath of fresh air in Spanish cinema. The film travels in September to the Venice Festival, where it is awarded the Agis Award, and later to the Chicago Festival, where it wins the Golden Hugo, the highest accolade.
Source: La Verdad
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