07/03/2024 - David Trueba makes a beautiful and moving film about the complexity and setbacks of romantic relationships

Vera (Macarena Sanz), Juan (Vito Sanz) and their daughter Manuela travel to Mallorca to spend a few days in an idyllic house by the sea owned by Alonso (Jorge Sanz), Juan’s former work colleague who, after losing his partner, decided to retreat from the world. Vera and Juan have decided to separate and they want Alonso to act as a "good man", a kind of trusted mediator who will help them to establish a fair agreement to avoid going to court and any unpleasantness, so that they can both come out of the separation unscathed. Isolated in a house by the sea, the time will come for all of them to reveal their secrets and confront their ghosts. This is the story of El hombre bueno, David Trueba’s latest film, presented in the Official Section of the Malaga Film Festival.

The beautiful prologue set to music by the moving song Veles e vents by Raimon (based on the poem of the same name by Ausiàs March), says a lot about the tone of the film and the themes it will deal with. As an interesting meeting point between them, is the curious figure of "the good man" who narrates the lives of the three protagonists. Through Jorge Sanz's character, little by little, we are told about each of them, how they have become the people they are now, what they were and are no longer, what their circumstances are, their wounds, their struggles, their dark sides, their failings, their different outlooks on life, what they have invested in, what they expect from it. The three characters will reflect on the idea of love, loss and guilt. In doing so, the film will also be a kind of reflection on the couple, on their secret mechanisms, on their mystery and complexity, and on their ability to create happiness as well as pain. 

David Trueba succeeds in narrating the film with simplicity, in a sober, light and subtle way, with the rhythm and the intimate and calm tone that the story requires. Importance is given to the characters, their life stories, the relationships between them and their conversations. It is precisely in the dialogues between the protagonists and in their performances that the film excels. Dialogues that could be those of a novel by Trueba himself, are well written and performed with grace and naturalness. They are intimate, full of revealing and piercing phrases about life, and dramatic in their depth, but without ever losing their point of humour. "If you stop to think about it, life is shit, it's like a dog that you want to pet and it's always trying to bite you", and, "It's one thing to separate and quite another to hurt yourself", the characters of Vito Sanz and Macarena Sanz say at different points in the film.

El hombre bueno is a small, moving film about the complexities and setbacks of romantic relationships, about the blows of life, the at times paradoxical nature of human beings and the possibility of redemption. It is a beautiful film told with truth and a certain magic that leads us to reflect on the power of people to love and also destroy each other.

El hombre bueno is produced by Buenavida Producciones and Perdidos G.Q.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)