Malena Is a Name from a Tango

1996 film

Malena Is a Name from a Tango

Theatrical release poster

Spanish| Malena es un nombre de tango
Directed by| Gerardo Herrero
Screenplay by| Senel Paz
Based on| Malena es un nombre de tango
by Almudena Grandes
Produced by|

* Gerardo Herrero
* Javier López Blanco

Starring|

* Ariadna Gil
* Marta Belaustegui
* Luis Fernando Alves
* Carlos López
* Isabel Otero
* Dafne Fernández
* Rebeca Fernández
* Alicia Hermida
* Alicia Agut
* Marina Saura
* Roman Luknár
* Miguel Palenzuela
* Jesús Ruyman

Cinematography| Alfredo Mayo
Edited by| Carmen Frías
Music by| Antoine Duhamel

Production
companies

* Tornasol Films
* Alta Films
* Blue Dahlia Production
* La Sept Cinema
* Road Movies Dritte Produktionen

Distributed by| Alta Films

Release date

* 12 April 1996 (1996-04-12) (Spain)

Countries|

* Spain
* France
* Germany

Language| Spanish
Box office| 188 million ₧ (Spain)[1]

Malena Is a Name from a Tango (Spanish: Malena es un nombre de tango) is a 1996 drama film directed by Gerardo Herrero from a screenplay by Senel Paz based on the novel by Almudena Grandes. It stars Ariadna Gil.

## Plot

[edit]

The plot concerns about the romantic and sexual endeavours of Malena, a victimised and rebellious woman contrasting to her twin sister Reina (who always was the model girl in the family), and then about the mother-son relationship of Malena with her son. Malena was gifted however a talisman by her grandfather back when she was 10.[2][3]

## Cast

[edit]

* Ariadna Gil as Malena[4][5]
* Marta Belaustegui [es] as Reina[4]
* Carlos López as Fernando[4]
* Luis Fernando Alvés [es] as Santiago[6]
* Isabel Otero [fr] as Magda[4]
* Dafne Fernández as Malena niña[7]
* Rebeca Fernández[8]
* Alicia Hermida as Paulina[4]
* Alicia Agut[8]
* Marina Saura[8]
* Roman Luknár[8]
* Miguel Palenzuela [es] as abuelo[4]
* Jesús Ruyman[8]
* Susi Sánchez[8]
* Juan Carlos Vellido[8]
* Consuelo Trujillo[8]
* Mariví Bilbao[8]

## Production

[edit]

An adaptation of the novel by Almudena Grandes, the screenplay was penned by Senel Paz. It is a Spanish-French-German co-production by Alta Films, Tornasol Films, Blue Dahlia Production, La Sept Cinema, and Road Movies Produktionen.[8][3] Shooting locations included the San Julián estate (La Hoya [es], Lorca), Mula, Águilas, and Madrid.[9]

## Release

[edit]

Distributed by Alta Films, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 12 April 1996.[8][5]

The film was the fifth highest grossing Spanish film of the year with a gross of 188 million Spanish Pesetas ($1.31 million).[1]

## Reception

[edit]

Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be a "well-intentioned, provocatively moralizing women's pic that ends up as second-rate melodrama".[3]

Luis Martínez of El País deemed that, efforts from a "magnetic" Ariadna Gil notwithstanding, the films "ends up as an uneven and quite chatty journey into the interiors of this disease called life".[10]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Spanish films of 1996

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Boletín informativo. Anexo cultura en cifras. Datos de 1996 (PDF). ICAA. 1997. p. 135. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
2. ^ Cine y literatura española. Guía de largometrajes (PDF). Comunidad de Madrid. Consejería de Cultura y Deportes. 2005. p. 136.
3. ^ a b c Holland, Jonathan (19 August 1996). "Malena Is a Name from a Tango". Variety.
4. ^ a b c d e f Cerón Gómez & Martínez González 1999, p. 110.
5. ^ a b García, Rocío (11 April 1996). "La perfecta y la imperfecta". El País.
6. ^ Cerón Gómez, Juan Francisco; Martínez González, Jesús (1999). Cien años de cine en Lorca. Secretariado de Publicaciones Universidad de Murcia; Primavera CInematográfica de Lorca. p. 110\. ISBN 84-8371-069-2.
7. ^ "A Dafne le gustan altos, morenos y con barbita". Divinity. 28 September 2011.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Malena no es un nombre de tango". Adaptaciones de la literatura española en el cine español. Referencias y bibliografía. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
9. ^ Cerón Gómez & Martínez González 1999, p. 107.
10. ^ Martínez, Luis (15 June 1999). "Malena es un nombre de tango". El País.

## External links

[edit]

Malena Is a Name from a Tango at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Gerardo Herrero

* Malena Is a Name from a Tango (1996)
* Comanche Territory (1997)
* Southern Border (1998)
* The Galíndez File (2003)
* The Archimedes Principle (2004)
* Heroine (2005)
* Rough Winds (2006)
* Frozen Silence (2012)

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