Bahía blanca (1985)

Bahía blanca: Directed by Jesús Franco. With Eva León, Lina Romay, Antonio Mayans, Trino Trives. A sheriff covers up a man’s murder in a small island occupied by two sisters. A local thug starts sexually assaulting one of the sisters, despite having a loving girlfriend, which triggers a violent sequence of events.

“Jess Francou0026#39;s unreleased film from 1983 demonstrates his versatility as a director. In the middle of a period where his projects were increasingly sexually graphic and light on story comes u0026#39;Bahia Blancau0026#39;, which could easily be the feature-length pilot episode of a soap opera.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnlike most of his films from this period, much attention is made to character. People are introduced and we are immediately familiarised with their personal back-story. The slow burning drama unfolds in some stunningly idyllic locations, beautifully filmed. There is very little of Francou0026#39;s trademark wild camera sweeps; instead, we are allowed to linger on this paradise as the characters continue their day to day lives.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLina Romay plays Maria, slow-witted and unglamorous, no makeup but still lovely, who hears all. By comparison, landlady Alida (Eva León), initially bewigged and bright of lip-stick, could initially have strolled in from a more garish, gratuitous Franco production. Antonio Mayans plays the rakish u0026#39;hairy oneu0026#39;, Commissioner Carlos, boisterous and always looking for a good time, but superficial and insincere. Thereu0026#39;s also good looking swine Andy (José Llamas), Analia Ivars as the wronged Silvia Maderos and old sage El Miserias (Jess Franco).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMild sex and violence, a surprise pregnancy, paternal revelations and at the centre of it all, murder in paradise – itu0026#39;s all cracking off on this idyllic island. I really enjoyed this change of pace from Franco – perhaps the lack of release for the project disinclined him from pursing this chattier, character-driven style. A great shame. My score is 8 out of 10.”