Name: Carta de amor de un asesino
Genre: Drama
Released: 1973-04-13
Duration: 1 h 38 min
Rating: 6
Cast: Serena Vergano, Rosa María Mateo, José Calvo

A strange, slow, and thought-provoking film, well-acted by a great cast.

A confusing and lightweight film about an attractive young woman named Blanca (Serena Vergano), the director of the Guadalajara municipal library. She lives alone in a large house with a small goldfish, with whom she is accustomed to bathing. She receives a letter from Antonio Gómez, a partner she does not remember, in which he confesses his passionate love, alluding to the relationship between his secret feelings and the terrible crime that he just committed in a tavern shooting, in cold blood, on four customers who drank quietly at the bar. When she learns that Antonio Gómez Díaz (José Luís López Vázquez), a local poet and one of the library's members, is wanted for several murders in the city, she talks to her friend Charo (Rosa Maria Mateo) and her husband Luis (Manuel Tejada) about their separation. She also befriends the library's elderly janitor (José Calvo), who invites her to fish for trout in the river, roast them at home, and feed them to her. Meanwhile whole city talks about the murder and, although the murderer is unaccounted for, Blanca has the feeling that he appears in her reveries.

After the failure of "Me enveneno de azules" (1969), screenwriter and director Francisco Regueiro made one of the most personal and unsuccessful films in his peculiar filmography, largely due to script problems, but also because he couldn't find the right rhythm, falling into excessive slowness and, as on other occasions, becoming a victim of total self-censorship. This results in a sui generis story, full of abstract images, Buñuelesque scenes, and the protagonist's sexual obsessions, including some nightmares of erotic subtext and others of raw animal meat appearing even in her bed. The film features a fine performance by the Italian actress Serena Vergano, a muse of the Barcelona School, alongside the ever-great José Luis López Vázquez, in a very serious role in which he doesn't utter a single word, except for a voice-over. But this doesn't matter, because with this actor's mere presence, you already savor his unique character. Along with these main roles there are a good support cast such as Rosa María Mateo, José Calvo, Marisa Porcel, Vicenta Roca y Manuel Tejada.

All the slowness, strangeness, peculiarities of the script, and the film's unconventional nature led producer Elias Querejeta to forgo a theatrical release, showing it only on television many years later. Highlights the evocative and brilliant cinematography by Luís Cuadrado considered to be one of the best Spanish cameramen, making several succesful productions, especially for Carlos Saura. Being shot on location in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid and Guadalajara. The motion picture was professionally and unevenly directed by Francisco Regueiro, in fact he relies on excessive slowness as well as rarities and the starring's inner thoughts without much sense. Regueiro was a cartoonist, painter, scriptwriter and director who has written scripts for film and television and for other directors. Francisco Regueiro was born in 1934 in Valladolid, Castilla y León. He was a writer and director, known for Padre nuestro (1985), Madregilda (1993) and El buen amor (1963). He belonged to New Spanish Cinema with El buen Amor¨(63) , and Amador¨(65) that was strongly censored . The great producer Elias Querejeta produced him some films like ¨Si Volvemos a Vernos¨, and ¨Carta de amor de un asesino¨. After that, he made documentary , television drama as ¨Cuentos y Leyendas : La niña que se hizo rata¨. Later on , he made the flop ¨Me enveneno de azules¨. Shortly after, producer José Frade financed him ¨Duerme, duerme mi amor¨ and ¨Las Bodas de Blanca¨, but both of them failed at the boxoffice. Then, he leaves the filmmaking for painting for 10 years. Although, thanks to Law Pilar Miro returns direction with a trilogy and his film Madregilda (1993). Cartas de amor de un asesino. Rating: 5/10. A mediocre and weird film.

Spanish-language cinema across Spain and Latin America is united by its engagement with history, cultural identity, and social transformation. In Spain, films often balance artistic experimentation with popular genres while reflecting on memory, politics, and family. In Latin America, cinema has been deeply tied to questions of colonial legacy, resistance, and community resilience, ranging from intimate dramas to bold political allegories.

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The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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Blanca, the director of the Municipal Library of a Spanish provincial city, receives a letter from Antonio Gómez, a partner she does not remember, in which he confesses his passionate love, alluding to the relationship between his secret feelings and the terrible crime that he just committed in a tavern shooting, in cold blood, on four customers who drank quietly at the bar. The whole city talks about the murder and, although the murderer is unaccounted for, Blanca has the feeling that he appears in her reveries.

Serena Vergano in Carta de amor de un asesino (1973)

Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas

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Manuel Tejada and Serena Vergano in Carta de amor de un asesino (1973)

Carta de amor de un asesino

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