ma-cortes

Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the medieval nobleman Richard (Michel Piccoli), from the heights of his castle, rules his territories with an iron fist. He is married to Eleanor (Liv Ullman), a woman he adores. After his first wife dies in an accident, she is buried in the family vault, and he hopes to find another woman to replace her. Catherine (Ornella Muti) , his second wife, bears him several children, but after some time, Eleanor returns to life.

Strange Spanish/French/Italian coproduction about rare relationships and bizarre events, being averagely directed by Juan Luis Buñuel , Luis Buñuel's son.

This is the pretentious and sensuous story with horror and fantastic touches, a drama with surrealism and a sour portrait upon a few weird roles, dealing with a lady who returns from tomb, but she's become a murderous vampire. This is a typical Luis Buñuel film style , as there are a lot of symbolism , mockery , and abstract scenes : like father like son , as Juán Luis Buñuel imitates heavily his father Don Luis . But here the script turns out to be confusing , disconcenting , and embarrassing, being written by Jean Claude Carriere, Luis Buñuel's regular, and director Juán Luis Buñuel himself . Despite the nice actors formed by an international cast from Spain, France and Italy , the picture results to be complex , tiring and nonsense . Stars two of the greatest figures of the European cinema at the time : the Euro cult actress Liv Ullman as a mysterious woman and Michel Piccoli as an ageing medieval knight, both of whom worked in the much better Tristana (1970) by Luis Buñuel . Being accompanied by a good support cast , but really wasted , such as : Ornella Muti, José María Prada, José Sacristán, Inma de Santis , among others.

It displays atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Leopoldo Villaseñor, shot completely in Huesca and Madrid surroundings. As well as classic and evocative musical score from Ennio Morricone . This dramatic motion picture was middlingly directed by Juan Luis Buñuel . He was born on November 9, 1934 and he died in 2017 in Paris, France. He was a director and assistant director, he began as assistant director on several of the films directed by his father, Luis Buñuel . He was married to director Joyce Buñuel. Juán being especially known for making some films as Cita con la muerte alegre or At the Meeting with Joyous Death (1973 ), Calanda (1967) , La rebelión de los colgados (1986) and La mujer con botas rojas (1974). And directing some documentary , Telefims and TV series, such as : Gaudi y Barcelona, Guanajuato una leyenda , Fantomas , Histoires extraordinaires , Serie Rosa , Serie neira , Intrigues , among others . Leonor rating : 5/10. Only for Liv Ullman, Ornella Muti and Michel Piccoli fans.

Kate Garretson (Julianne Moore) is dealing with a personal tragedy due to death her wife while owning and training horses in Echo Valley, an isolated and picturesque place, when her daughter, Claire ,(Sydney Sweeney) arrives at her doorstep, frightened, trembling and covered in someone else's blood. Later on, at the place arrives her boyfriend Jackie Lawson (Domhnall Gleeson) and things go wrong. How far is a mother willing to go to protect her daughter?

Oscar winner Julianne Moore (The Room Next Door, Magnolia, Carrie, Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and rising star Sylvia Sweeney (Euphoria, Anyone But You) star in this dramatic thriller with several twists and turns, a story of murder between a mother and daughter that is disturbingly entertaining and surprising. The cast is small, but all the actors are quite good, although most of them play dark, villainous, or treacherous roles. One misses having more compelling and attractive characters to illuminate this dark crime story. The performances are uniformly good. Julianne Moor, with no make-up, stars as a lesbian mother who left her husband -Kyle MacLachlan- to marry a now-deceased woman, a loss she still grieves for; while her troubled daughter, who suffers from drug addiction, is competently portrayed by Sylvia Sweeney, without make-up as well. Domhnall Gleeson, Bernard Gleeson's son, briefly plays the daughter's drug-addicted boyfriend, as well as Fiona Lewis as the mother's close friend, and Edmund Donovan as a drug smuggler. Adding as guest star in a brief appearance by Kyle MacLachlan.

It delivers a frightening, suspenseful musical score by Jed Kurzel (The Pope's exorcist, Samaritan) .As well as evocative cinematic ambient thanks to expert cameraman Benjamin Kracun (The substance, Encounter). The motion picture was well directed by Michael Pearce, although it could have used a bit more tension, intrigue, and more spectacular sets. Pearce is a good craftsman who has written/produced/directed a few films. He is known for Beast (2017), Encounter (2021) and Rite (2010). Echo Valley (2025) a good but no notable film; it has questionable plot twists, some requiring a suspension of disbelief, but they don't completely detract from an entertaining whole.

A cheap and surprising thriller with a few main characters, set entirely on a sailboat. It stars two young, troubled couples sailing on the high seas, in the middle of the ocean. On doctor's orders, Natalia (Silvia Tortosa) embarks on a yacht for a well-deserved vacation. Her husband Carlos (José Antonio Ceinos), Blanca (Montserrat Torras), who is Carlos's lover, and Blanca's husband, a doctor (José María Blanco), travel with her. The romantic entanglements among the group members, as well as the sinister fate of each one, will turn the small yacht into a few days of pure nightmare for Natalia. A group of friends, upon boarding a boat, make a fatal mistake! A journey into fear! High seas. Deep terror. Try to stay calm. In the middle of nowhere, there's nowhere to hide!

A tense thriller about a gathering of friends that pushes sanity to the brink of extreme violence, with unpredictable consequences, including chilling intrigue, exciting events with many surprises, deliciously twisted occurrences, and brief touches of eroticism and gore. Although there are several unbelievable incidents, the filmmaker manages to maintain a reasonable pace and tension. It offers some quite intriguing and suspenseful moments that partially compensate for the weak and predictable climax. An uneven feature film with elements of thriller and surprising intrigue that develop acceptably here and there, along with unbearable tension in the performances of the four protagonists. Despite having only four main characters, the film is mildly entertaining and briefly enjoyable.

The film stars Silvia Tortosa, who brings a beautiful presence and a dedicated performance to the film's more impactful moments, delivering unsettling scenes in a decidedly complex and challenging role. She holds her own vehemently in those scenes where the story offers her a chance to shine. Tortosa had previously worked with Aured on the painfully erotic *Susana Wants to Lose...That!* (1977), she was one of the muses of Spanish cinema of the time and enjoyed a solid film career, encompassing her memorable presence in horror classics such as Eugenio Martín's *Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express* (1972) and Amando de Ossorio's *The Claws of Lorelei*, and other films of different genres such as *La Hoz y el Martinez*, *La senyora* (1987), and even in theater, where she founded her own company, and television (appearing in series such as *Curro Jiménez*, *Novela*, *El super*, and *La huella del crimen*), a medium in which she continued working until her recent death. Tortosa brings a beautiful presence and also displays interpretive care in the moments when the film relies on shock value, holding her own vehemently in those scenes where the story offers her a chance to shine.

The film was directed by Carlos Aureded, in an uneven manner, and in some scenes somewhat clumsily. Carlos initially worked as an assistant to well-known directors of the 1960s, such as Leon Klimovsky. After a period in his career that encompassed genres like crime, comedy, and erotica, Carlos Aured returned to the world of horror in 1983, the genre that would make him one of the cult directors of Spanish horror. This slasher/thriller/suspense film is directed unevenly but professionally by Carlos Aured, a skilled craftsman who directed all kinds of genres, especially erotic ones like *Sexual Apocalypse*, *The Plumber, His Wife, and Other Things to Put In...*, *The Frigid and the Vicious One*, and horror films for Paul Naschy such as *Horror Rises from the Tomb*, *The Mummy's Revenge*, and *The Return of Walpurgis*. The Yacht Enigma is a film that suffers from a certain degree of obscurity and lack of recognition within Spanish fantasy and horror cinema (Fanta-terror), but it is a film worth considering within the cinematic development of the 1980s. Rating: 4.5/10. The film is especially recommended for fans of Silvia Tortosa, who gives a valiant and decent performance, all things considered.