Oviedo Express

{{Infobox film

| image = Oviedo Express poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Gonzalo Suárez

| writer = Gonzalo Suárez

| producer = Juan Gona

| music = Carles Cases

| cinematography = Carlos Suárez

| editing = Celia Cervero

| starring = {{Plain list|

}}

| country = Spain

| distributor = Universal Pictures

| studio = Gona Cine y Televisión

| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2007|10|31}}

| language = Spanish

}}

Oviedo Express is a 2007 Spanish comedy-drama film directed and written by Gonzalo Suárez. It stars Carmelo Gómez, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Maribel Verdú, Najwa Nimri, Jorge Sanz, Bárbara Goenaga and Alberto Jiménez.

Plot

The plot was reportedly inspired on Stefan Zweig's Fear, although barely anything of the work (the nexus with the intrigue if at all) is identifiable in the film.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lne.es/oviedo/2007/10/28/director-venga-regenta-personaje-aitana-21810378.html|first=Marta|last=Pérez|title=El director se venga de «La Regenta» con el personaje de Aitana Sánchez-Gijón|date=28 October 2017|website=La Nueva España}} A troupe of thespians moves to Oviedo to stage a play based on La Regenta. Mariola Mayo is the leading actress performing the stage role of La Regenta/Ana Ozores.{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=304}} The Mayor of Oviedo has an affair with journalist Bárbara Ruiz.{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}} Emma (a nod to Madame Bovary{{'s}} character), the scorned spouse of the Mayor of Oviedo and a young scholar preparing a PhD dissertation on La Regenta, portrays a sort of Regenta-like in-fiction character.{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}} Emma has sexual intercourse with Benjamín Olmo, the leading actor of the play.{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=310}}{{Cite web|via=Centro Virtual Cervantes|title=La Regenta: circuitos intersemióticos|url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/literatura/aispi/pdf/23/23_031.pdf|first=Alessandra|last=Melloni|page=37}}

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Carmelo Gómez as Benjamín Olmo{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=308}}
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón as Mariola Mayo{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=311}}
Maribel Verdú as Mina{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}}
Najwa Nimri as Bárbara Ruiz{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}}
Jorge Sanz as Álvaro Mesía{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}}
Bárbara Goenaga as Emma{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}}
Alberto Jiménez as Ernesto de Villamarín,{{Sfn|Nogueira Soto|2018|p=305}} the Mayor
Silvia Marty
Víctor Clavijo{{Cite web|url=https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/355556/0/oviedo/express/festival/|website=20minutos.es|date=28 February 2008|title=La película Oviedo Express, seleccionada para el Festival Español de Cine de Nantes}}
{{ill|Carmen Ruiz-Tilve|es}}

}}

Production

The project was originally titled Érase una vez Oviedo.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elcomercio.es/oviedo/201608/01/rodaje-oviedo-express-ciudad-20160801005055-v.html|website=El Comercio|date=1 August 2016|first=Susana|last=Neira|title=El rodaje de 'Oviedo Express' en una «ciudad de cine»}} The film was shot in Oviedo in 2006.

Release

The film was theatrically released in Spain on 31 October 2007.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lne.es/oviedo/2007/11/08/oviedo-express-arrasa-grandes-ciudades-21805232.html|website=La Nueva España|date=8 November 2007|title=«Oviedo Express» arrasa en grandes ciudades}}

Reception

Alberto Bermejo of El Mundo rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that "above many other things, 'Oviedo Express' is very funny, even though it is much more than a comedy", with additional superimposed layers of farce, vaudeville, melodrama, and caricature, also featuring a cast of actors taking risks "in unusual registers" delivering the elaborated and "highly personal" dialogues of Gonzalo Suárez.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elmundo.es/metropoli/2007/11/09/cine/1194562815.html|website=Metrópoli|via=El Mundo|title=Fabular y actuar o viceversa|first=Alberto|last=Bermejo|date=6 November 2007}}

Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be "a typically eccentric dramedy" and (so much) "over-the-top", featuring a "bunch of fine Spanish actors overacting for all they're worth".{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/reviews/oviedo-express-1200554196/|website=Variety|first=Jonathan|last=Holland|date=3 December 2007|title=Oviedo Express}}

Accolades

| align = "center" rowspan = "8" | 2008 || rowspan = "7" | 22nd Goya Awards || Best Original Screenplay || Gonzalo Suárez || {{nom}} || rowspan = "7" | {{Cite web|access-date=12 June 2022|title=Oviedo Express|publisher=Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España|website=premiosgoya.com|url=https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/oviedo-express/}}

| Best New Actress || Bárbara Goenaga || {{nom}}

| Best Production Supervision || Teresa Cepeda || {{nom}}

| Best Cinematography || Carlos Suárez || {{nom}}

| Best Original Score || Carles Cases || {{nom}}

| Best Art Direction || Wolfang Burmann || {{nom}}

| Best Makeup and Hairstyles || Lourdes Briones, Fermín Galán || {{nom}}

| 17th Actors and Actresses Union Awards || Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role || Jorge Sanz || {{nom}} || {{Cite web|url=https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/335489/0/nominaciones/union/actores/|website=20minutos.es|title='Las 13 rosas' y las series TVE, favoritas en los premios de la Unión de Actores|date=18 January 2008|access-date=16 November 2021|language=es}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/03/31/cultura/1206998666.html/|website=El Mundo|title=La saga Bardem triunfa en los premios de la Unión de Actores|date=1 April 2008|access-date=16 November 2021|language=es}}

References

Bibliography

{{Cite journal|title=Oviedo Express, de Gonzalo Suárez: el género degenerado (una vez más)|first=Xosé|last=Nogueira Otero|issue=17|year=2018|journal=Quintana|doi=10.15304/qui.17.5181|location=Santiago de Compostela|publisher=Universidade de Santiago de Compostela|url=https://revistas.usc.gal/index.php/quintana/article/view/5181|doi-access=free}}