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The South

El Sur

1983

Víctor Erice

Omero Antonutti, Sonsoles Aranguren, Icíar Bollaín, Lola Cardona ...

7.7

16,093

Drama "El Sur" ("The South") is the story of Estrella, a little girl from Southern Spain who has been uprooted to the North. Estrella maintains a sentimentalized attachment to the region of her birth, an attachment manifested in her love for her father. The girl's rose-colored memories are shattered when she learns that her beloved dad once carried an affair with a Southern woman-and that the flames of passion still smolder within him.

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	John Patterson The Guardian	"The unfinished Spanish drama that’s perfect the way it is. Victor Erice’s 1983 gem remains a haunting tale of family secrets and postwar loss, even if problems behind the camera left much of its story unfilmed.	POS
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"The new film reveals its concerns in small, seemingly unimportant details (...) The movie seems to whisper when there seems no reason why it can't speak in a normal voice."	NEU
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"It seems to form a nearly perfect whole as it is: a brooding tale (...) mysterious and resonant, with the poetic ambience of a story by Faulkner."	POS
United Kingdom	Mike McCahill The Guardian	"Haunting story (...) Erice’s handling proves more intimate than allegorical, beckoning us into Vermeer-like compositions (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Dave Calhoun Time Out	"A moving and mysterious study of childhood (...) It’s a fragmented, lyrical work that has some extremely powerful moments of shadowy, painterly beauty (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Kate Muir The Times	"It’s a haunting, delicate portrait of childhood, with a father who oozes mystery (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Tara Brady Irish Times	"'El Sur' functions perfectly well (...) Erice and DOP José Luis Alcaine (...) provide a masterclass in cinematic device (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	"The dramatic impact of gorgeous image and tantalising message is enormous."	POS

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