Belle Epoque

BELLE EPOQUE is the irresistible story of Fernando a handsome young Spanish Civil War deserter who befriends a free-thinking artist. Fernando finds himself in a romantic dilemma when the artist's four beautiful daughters return to their country home -- which woman should he romance? The answer ishilariously simple as Fernando is seduced instead by each of the high-spirited sisters. BELLE EPOQUE is a rollicking sensual romp celebrating newfound sexual freedom for women. A delicious blend ofhumor and passion that captured the Oscar(r) (1993) for Best Foreign Language Film and introduced theworld to the enchanting beauty of Penelope Cruz (Vanilla Sky).System Requirements:Running Time: 109 minutes Language: Spanish / English Subtitles: English / SpanishFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: LATIN/DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396793798 Manufacturer No: 79379

This Spanish fluff from 1992 won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but its significance goes about as far as you can throw a flower petal. The story finds an elderly artist (Fernando Fernán Gómez) giving shelter to a deserter (Jorge Sanz) from the royalist army in provincial Spain, 1931. While on the premises, the young man naturally notes the beauty of all four of his host's daughters. Each takes her turn at seducing him, but this isn't late-night cable TV so much as it is a series of brief character sketches filled out by the way each woman takes charge. It's a clever idea made more clever by the fact that these sundry beauties are acting on the libertine impulses to which their free-thinking father subscribes in principle but has sheepishly abandoned for love. But the film, directed by Fernando Trueba, is rendered so lightly it could almost be mistaken for calendar art. --Tom Keogh