A grumpy publisher receives a parcel containing a hand that may or may not be fake. A woman is following him. Someone from his past? Reality and fantasy begin to intermingle.A grumpy publisher receives a parcel containing a hand that may or may not be fake. A woman is following him. Someone from his past? Reality and fantasy begin to intermingle.A grumpy publisher receives a parcel containing a hand that may or may not be fake. A woman is following him. Someone from his past? Reality and fantasy begin to intermingle.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe title "Las crueles" (in imitation of the classic French "Les diaboliques" by Clouzot) was an imposition of the Spanish distributor at the time of commercially releasing the film. The title originally planned by the director Vicente Aranda, and of clear surrealist inspiration, was "The exquisite corpse".
- GoofsThere's no way the prosthetic hand, taken out of the box and observed from different angles, could ever be mistaken for the actual rotting hand of a corps, though, inexplicably, the editor's secretary says it somehow smells like one.
- Alternate versionsReduced cut version for Spain running 95 minutes
- ConnectionsFeatured in Twisted Sex Vol. 18 (1998)
Featured review
A slick, sick Spanish soap with a feminist slant
Carlos (Andre Argaud), a well-do-do publisher and family man, receives a severed hand in the mail at work and buries it before going home but once there, his beautiful wife (Theresa Gimpera) reads him a telegram asking if he'd like a forearm. Carlos makes up a lame, work-related explanation but now suspicious, she follows her husband and spots a mysterious woman in black following him as well. That woman is Parker (Capucine), whose lesbian lover, Esther (Judy Matheson), was once Carlos' mistress who never got over being cast aside. Esther committed suicide but Parker kept the body and, holding Carlos responsible, devises a complicated plan to have him framed for Esther's murder...
THE EXQUISITE CADAVER is a slick, stylish, and very strange Spanish soap-opera with a decidedly Feminist agenda. Some unusual directorial touches, lyrical cinematography, and a somber jazz score by Marco Rossi give the film an Art House air that blends easily with the glossy grisliness of a few grind-house plot elements. The beautiful Capucine is coolly elegant as the enigmatic avenging angel and the secret bond all women share can turn the tables on a "common, ordinary Romeo not worth the pain he caused". A very unusual but not uninteresting film if one goes in with no expectations but it's usually marketed and sold as either a Giallo or horror film, so there's bound to be disappointment in some quarters.
THE EXQUISITE CADAVER is a slick, stylish, and very strange Spanish soap-opera with a decidedly Feminist agenda. Some unusual directorial touches, lyrical cinematography, and a somber jazz score by Marco Rossi give the film an Art House air that blends easily with the glossy grisliness of a few grind-house plot elements. The beautiful Capucine is coolly elegant as the enigmatic avenging angel and the secret bond all women share can turn the tables on a "common, ordinary Romeo not worth the pain he caused". A very unusual but not uninteresting film if one goes in with no expectations but it's usually marketed and sold as either a Giallo or horror film, so there's bound to be disappointment in some quarters.
helpful•93
- melvelvit-1
- Jul 14, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Las crueles
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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