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Death of a Cyclist
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Wikipedia article
'Death of a Cyclist' is a 1955 social realist Spanish drama film directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and starring Italian actress Lucia Bos, who was dubbed into Spanish by Elsa Fbregas. It won the FIPRESCI Award at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
'The Death of a Cyclist' begins with the return of Juan Fernandez Soler (Alberto Closas), a university professor, and Mara Jose (Lucia Bos), a wealthy married woman, from an adulterous endeavor. While speeding down the road, Mara Jose and Juan hit a cyclist with their car. Although the cyclist was alive when they left him, his reported death causes both Mara Jose and Juan great anxiety in their personal lives.
For Mara Jose, the exposure of this crime (and thus the affair) would mean the potential loss of her world as a wealthy socialite. However, the cyclist's death causes Juan to instead reflect on his own life choices, including his life as a former falange soldier, and the hypocrisy of his world as a member of the upper class. The suspense of these anxieties is exacerbated by the meddling Rafa (Carlos Casaravilla), who is a lowly art critic that has spent the past few months observing the socialites that he has surrounding himself with. His intentions to "purify" the upper class are revealed through his plan to expose Mara Jose and Juan. Juan and Mara Jose's differing responses to the cyclist's death are significant in the commentary surrounding the upper class provided in this film.
By the end of the film, Juan is ready to turn himself and Mara Jose into the police. However, Mara Jose would do anything to protect the world she is comfortable in. Thus, Mara Jose runs Juan over in an attempt to return to her life as it was before, presumably murdering him. The action of running over Juan represents the upper class's obsession with staying in power. Yet, while returning to her husband after committing this crime, she is run off of a bridge by a cyclist and falls to her death. The last shot of this film includes the cyclist riding away, intentions unknown.
Cast
* Lucia Bos as Mara Jos de Castro
* Alberto Closas as Juan Fernandez Soler
* Otello Toso as Miguel Castro
* Bruna Corra as Matilde Luque
* Carlos Casaravilla as Rafael "Rafa" Sandoval
* Manuel Alexandre as cyclist
Reception
Critical analysis
Film critic Robert Koehler wrote of the director's goals when shooting the film, "With the economy of Tourneur and Walsh, Bardem immediately establishes in the opening frames of 'Death of a Cyclist' not only the incident to which the title refers, but also, more crucially, that lovers Juan (Alberto Closas) and Mara Jos (Lucia Bos) are doomed... The Rafa-Mara Jos-Miguel interplay is sprinkled with irony, sarcasm, and suggestion, and comes to a boil with the help of social satire, revenge, paranoia, and suspicion. It's quite a soup, and Bardem has fun dipping into it. Contrary to the film's reputation as a stark rebuke of Franco-era hypocrisy and corruption, 'Death of a Cyclist' is perhaps most surprising and memorable for this half-terrifying, half-comical roundelay of three people caught in a web of misunderstanding (Mara Jos mistakenly convinced that Rafa witnessed something of the bicycle accident) and distrust (each of them for the other).[http://www.cineaste.com/articles/a-second-look-emdeath-of-a-cyclistem Koehler, Robert] . 'Cineaste', "A Second Look: Death of a Cyclist," Vol.XXXIV No.3 2009. Last accessed: February 14, 2011.Film critic Mark Mesaros discussed the stylistic aspects of the film, writing, "'Death of a Cyclist' is a polemical tale that borrows the grammar of the Hitchcockian murder mystery as well as the forbidden romance of film noir to achieve its ideologic ends... Beginning with the techniques that are most efficacious, it's necessary to emphasize Bardem's brilliant use of cuts and dissolves throughout. What will be remembered most by viewers is the way the film jump cuts effortlessly between the seemingly primary melodrama and scenes of so-called 'social realism'. At first the cuts are employed between bourgeois and working class milieus, but later more abstract associations will be made. It's apparent that our pair of privileged sinners lie totally outside of 'social reality': when their sports-car hits the cyclist we do not see his twisted frame, only the twisted frame of the bicycle, and the reactions of Juan and Mara Jos. Through the course of events Juan will be forced to interlope within the reality of the cyclist and his family, while Mara Jos will be further ensconced in the delicate net of her delusion."[http://www.cinelogue.com/reviews/death-of-a-cyclist Mesaros, Mark] . 'Cinelogue: A Catalogue of World Cinema', featured article, July 16, 2010. Last accessed: February 14, 2011.
American reviews
When first released in the United States in the 1950s, even though the film was hailed in Europe, 'The New York Times' film critic Bosley Crowther panned the film and its style, writing "Aside from the fact that Seor Bardem has not chosen an especially novel theme or given his treatment of it any new or surprising twist, he has actually confused it with weird plotting and a wild, choppy cinematic style. Seor Bardem's cinematic syntax has no capitals or punctuation marks. He jumps from one scene to another without terminal notifications or dissolves. You have to be awfully attentive to figure out where you are...Maybe they have cut this Path picture, and the English subtitles are poor. But Seor Bardem will have to do better to make his laurels look deserved."[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900E4D61538EF34BC4152DFBE668383649EDE Crowther, Bosley]. 'The New York Times', film review, August 19, 1958. Last accessed: February 14, 2011.Awards
* Winner, Cannes Film Festival: International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize), Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955
* Winner, Circulo de Escritores Cinematogrficos, Photography, Alfredo Fraile, 1955
DVD
The film was released in the United States by The Criterion Collection.[http://www.criterion.com/films/537-death-of-a-cyclist The Criterion Collection] web site. Last accessed: February 14, 2011.
References
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