Nine Letters to Berta

Nine Letters to Berta (Spanish: Nueve cartas a Berta) is a 1966 Spanish drama film written and directed by Basilio Martín Patino which stars Mari Carrillo, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, and Antonio Casas. It is widely acknowledged as a hallmark title of the so-called Nuevo Cine Español.[1]

Nine Letters to Berta
Theatrical release poster
SpanishNueve cartas a Berta
Directed byBasilio Martín Patino
Screenplay byBasilio Martín Patino
Starring
CinematographyLuis Enrique Torán
Edited byPedro del Rey
Music byCarmelo Bernaola
Production
companies
  • Eco Films
  • Transfisa
Distributed byHispano Fox-Film
Release dates
  • June 1966 (1966-06) (SSIFF)
  • 27 February 1967 (1967-02-27) (Spain)
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish

Plot

In the 1950s,[2] Lorenzo Carvajal, son to a former Francoist combatant now working in a bank and a pious housewife, returns to Salamanca from a spell in England. He writes love letters to a woman he met in England, Berta Carballeira (never featured onscreen), the daughter of a Spanish exile, also detailing the sense of weariness he experiences back in his native city, as he feels stranged from his family, local girlfriend, and friends.[3][4][5][6]

Cast

Production

The film is an Eco Films and Transcontinental Films Española (Transfisa) production.[8] Shooting locations included Madrid and Salamanca.[8]

Release

The film was presented at the 14th San Sebastián International Film Festival in June 1966.[9] It was released theatrically in Spain on 27 February 1967.[10] 417,965 tickets were sold, with the film proving to be a blockbuster relative to comparable Nuevo Cine Español titles.[11]

See also

References

  1. Faulkner, Sally (2006). "Identity and Nationality in Basilio Martín Patino's Nueve cartas a Berta (1965)". Bulletin of Spanish Studies. 83 (3): 409–423. doi:10.1080/147538206000346261. ISSN 1475-3820. S2CID 192014733.
  2. "Nueve cartas a Berta" (PDF). Retrieved 26 February 2023 via Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte.
  3. Pérez 2017, p. 156.
  4. Pérez Millán, Juan Antonio (January 2011). "Salamanca en el cine de Basilio Martín Patino. De Nueve cartas a Berta (1965) a Octavia (2002)". Guzmán Gombau fotografía el VII centenario de la Universidad de Salamanca (1953-1954): liberalización cultural y apertura internacional de la universidad franquista. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-8478001422.
  5. González, Fernando (2000). "Exilio, identidad, historia, forma fílmica. La guerre est finie, Nueve cartas a Berta" (PDF). Film-Historia. 10 (3): 29–43.
  6. Keller, Patricia (2013). "Letters from The City: Writing Boundaries in Nueve cartas a Berta (1965)". Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 90 (8): 945–964. doi:10.3828/bhs.2013.57.
  7. Bentley, Bernard P. E. (2008). A Companion to Spanish Cinema. Tamesis. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-85566-176-9.
  8. "Nueve cartas a Berta". Madrid Film Office. Madrid Destino Cultura Turismo y Negocio S.A. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  9. García-Defez 2019, p. 200.
  10. García-Defez, Olga (2019). "De Inglaterra a Salamanca: espacio y memoria en Nueve cartas a Berta (Basilio Martín Patino, 1967)" (PDF). Salamanca. Revista de Estudios. 63: 200. ISSN 0212-7105.
  11. Pérez, Jorge (2017). Confessional Cinema: Religion, Film, and Modernity in Spain's Development Years, 1960–1975. University of Toronto Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-4875-0108-2.
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