2001-2010 Comedy Drama Fernando Colomo Spain

Fernando Colomo – Al sur de Granada AKA South from Granada (2003)

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Around 1920, the young, upper-class Brenan (newcomer Matthew Goode) staggers, exhausted, into a mountain village in southern Spain, having left England to live and to write abroad. He brings with him only a rucksack and some faulty Spanish — though his collection of 2,000 books follows him soon on muleback. After buying a house and hiring a servant, Maria (Consuelo Trujillo), Brenan quickly becomes an integral part of the town’s society.

Before long, Brenan is eyeing the charms of Juliana (Veronica Sanchez) as she bathes in a pool. At the same time, Maria, recognizing Brenan is not short of cash, tries to foist her daughter, Angeles (Bebe Rebolledo), on him.

A visit from Brenan’s g.f., Dora Carrington (Jessica Kate Mayer), along with Lytton Strachey (James Fleet) and Ralph Partridge (Laurence Fox), reveals the English as uptight and arrogant compared with the passionate, vibrant locals — a stereotype the script never really challenges. Ralph has asked Dora to marry him and she’s accepted, so Brenan stays on alone after they leave.

Brenan takes on Juliana as his maid and soon learns, with the help of new friend Paco (Guillermo Toledo), that getting rural Spanish virgins into bed is a hazardous pursuit. Meanwhile, his landlady, Dona Clara (Maria Alfonsa Rosso), tells him that if he marries Angeles — the illegitimate child of Clara’s late husband and Maria — she’ll make him the heir to her property.

Nominated for eleven Goya Awards and won one.