On 27 May the BFI will bring Cría cuervos (1976) directed by Carlos Saura (Carmen, Blood Wedding) to DVD and Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, in a Dual Format Edition release.
One of cinema’s most hauntingly vivid depictions of a child’s fantasy-imbued reality, Cría cuervos is a darkly unsettling and deeply touching film which stands as a landmark of Spanish cinema.
Eight-year-old Ana (the spellbinding Ana Torrent from The Spirit of the Beehive) lives in a mysterious mansion in central Madrid, cut off from the roaring traffic and urban bustle by a high-walled garden. Recently orphaned, she believes herself to have poisoned her cold, authoritarian father (Héctor Alterio), a high-ranking military man whom she blames for the death of her much adored, musically gifted mother (Geraldine Chaplin in a performance of exquisite tenderness). Now cared for, along with her two sisters, by her uptight, scolding Aunt Paulina (Mónica Randall), Ana has ample opportunity to observe the frustrations – emotional, sexual, and professional – of her adult female relatives. This is a world of secrets and lies in which only the family maid Rosa (Florinda Chico) will respond frankly to questions about sex or the Spanish Civil War.
