The Girl of Your Dreams

The Girl of Your Dreams
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Fernando Trueba
Produced by Andrés Vicente Gómez
Eduardo Campoy
Cristina Huete
Written by Rafael Azcona
Miguel Ángel Egea
Carlos López
David Trueba
Starring Penélope Cruz
Antonio Resines
Jorge Sanz
Rosa María Sardà
Santiago Segura
Music by Antoine Duhamel
Cinematography Javier Aguirresarobe
Edited by Carmen Frías
Release date
  • 13 November 1998 (1998-11-13)
Running time
 121 minutes
Country Spain
Language Spanish
German
Russian

The Girl of Your Dreams (Spanish: La niña de tus ojos) is a 1998 Spanish drama film produced and directed by Fernando Trueba that stars Penélope Cruz, Antonio Resines, Johannes Silberschneider and Hanna Schygulla. Set during the Spanish Civil War, it centers on a fictional Andalusian actress making a film in Nazi Germany who becomes the object of Joseph Goebbels' attentions.

Plot

In 1938, while Spain is in the grip of civil war, a film team from territory held by Franco's rebels are invited to the co-production in Berlin of a musical set in 19th-century Andalucia, to be shot in separate Spanish and German versions. At first happy to be working away from their war-torn country, the group find life under Nazism increasingly unpleasant and dangerous.

Macarena, their attractive star, soon catches the eye of Goebbels, the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, who is determined to bed her. Though she finds him repulsive, and prefers the company of Blas, the married director of the Spanish version, it is made clear to her that for the sake of the project and of Hispano-German relations she must comply.

When she points out that the extras in the film look ridiculous, being tall and fair-haired, they are replaced by short dark Jewish and Romani prisoners from a concentration camp, under armed SS guards. An extra with whom she sympathises, a handsome Russian called Leo, escapes the guards and she smuggles him into the villa where Goebbels has installed her. When Goebbels calls round, Leo knocks him out cold.

Blas realises that this is the end of the road for the project and rushes to see Goebbels' wife, who is well aware of her husband's activities. She writes him a pass enabling Leo, Macarena and her dresser to board a plane that night. The fate of the rest of the group, who are all under arrest, is unclear.

Cast

Historical background

During the Civil War, filmmakers from the Nationalist side found work in Germany and Italy. For example, in 1938 at the UFA studios in Babelsberg, the Spanish director Florián Rey filmed Carmen, la de Triana in Spanish and a German version called Andalusische Nächte, both starring the Argentine singer and actress Imperio Argentina with whom, according to legend, Hitler fell in love. She is reported to have sued the producers and director for using her life story without permission.

Awards

Sequel

A sequel, La reina de España (English: The Queen of Spain), starring Penélope Cruz and Jorge Sanz, was released on 25 November 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "Berlinale: 1999 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
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