Jamón, jamón
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| Jamón, jamón | |
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| Directed by | Bigas Luna |
| Produced by | Andrés Vicente Gómez |
| Written by | Cuca Canals Bigas Luna Quim Monzó (Dialogue) |
| Starring | Javier Bardem Penélope Cruz |
| Music by | Nicola Piovani |
| Cinematography | José Luis Alcaine |
| Editing by | Teresa Font |
| Distributed by | USA Academy Entertainment Inc |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Running time | 95 mins |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
Jamón, jamón is a 1992 Spanish drama/comedy film directed by Bigas Luna and starring Javier Bardem, Jordi Mollà and Penélope Cruz (in her debut film). It centers around a young woman named Silvia (played by Penélope Cruz). The film is bursting with sexual energy and twisted romantic relationships. The film is an allegory for all of Spain and the director engages in word play and pun. It rhapsodizes on the juxtaposition of old and new in Spain and many other emotional contrasts such as erotic desire and food.[1][2]
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[edit] Plot
The story is about Silvia, a beautiful young Spanish woman, who prepares omelettes for the workers in the underwear factory owned by José Luis' family. After missing two periods, Silvia reveals to José that she is pregnant expecting him to react negatively. However, to Silvia's surprise and delight, José expresses his love for her and desire for her to go through with the pregnancy. Romantically, he picks up the ring from a soda can he finds on the ground and places it on her finger and tells her they will get married. Despite the apparent monetary worthlessness of this item, Silvia cherishes it and all that it symbolizes.
José has a difficult time explaining to his overbearing and conniving mother that he is in love with Silvia and intends to marry her. José's mother, Conchita, does not approve and when her husband refuses to help her by intervening, she takes matters into her own hands. She hires Raul, an underwear model who works for the family business to seduce Silvia, hoping this will destroy the relationship and prevent the marriage. In spite of several aggressive attempts by Raul to seduce Silvia, she remains committed to marry José. Raúl however, becomes genuinely infatuated with Silvia while Conchita's lust for Raúl leads her to offer him anything he wants if only he has sex with her. Raul's choice is a Yamaha 600 motorbike so, despite his apparent lack of interest in Conchita, he becomes her lover.
Meanwhile, José's inability to come to a decision about whether to marry Silvia without his mother's approval, leads to Silvia's deciding she wants a "real man", one who has gumption. She begins to take interest in Raúl. Conchita does not approve of this relationship either because she wants Raúl for herself.
(Spolier) The film ends with a fight to the death involving the use of legs of ham as weapons. José is killed by Raúl with the responsibility lying with Conchita. The films ends with a peculiar grieving scene which reiterate the recurring and themes of primal instincts, infidelity and destruction.
An example of the use of food imagery occurs in an erotic scene between Silvia and José Luis. At one point he gently pulls down her shirt and starts to suck and lick her nipples. The English subtitles are:
Silvia: How come you like eating my tits? José Luis: I like the way they taste. S: What do they taste like? JL: I don't know. Nothing. That's be asking too much: one tasting like an omelette the other like ham S: José Luis...
The Spanish names are these dishes are jamón serrano and tortilla de patatas.
Food as metaphor pervades the film. Characters have primal lusts (hungers), which are described with meat and animal imagery. One of Silvia's suitors (Raúl, played by Javier Bardem) is a wannabe bullfighter. There is a scene of nude bullfighting. At the end of the movie, the two characters vying for her affection beat each other with enormous cuts of these ham hocks.
[edit] Title
In Spanish, jamón means "ham." Repeating "jamón, jamón, jamón..." is a children language game, since it sounds like "monja, monja, monja..." ("nun, nun, nun")
In one scene where José is kissing and licking Silvia's exposed breasts and commenting that they taste like ham suggests that "Jamón, jamón" refers to Silvia's two breasts and all that of which are a metaphor.[3][4]
[edit] Location
The film was shot on the Monegros desert of Zaragoza.
[edit] Awards
- Bigas Luna's direction of this comedy won the Silver Lion at the 1992 Venice Film Festival.
[edit] Notes
- ^ review at lovefilm.com
- ^ Ham Ham
- ^ Jamón, jamón
- ^ Jamón Jamón review 2007-05-01
[edit] External links
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