Played to the hilt by an inspired cast, this may not be the most subtle comedy ever made, but it has an impudence and an energy that atones for its occasional resort to contrivance and cheap gags.
Comment
10/01/06
Unconscious (2007)
85 %
Reviews Counted: 27 Fresh: 23 Rotten:4 Average Rating: 7.1/10
Consensus:
A comedy that tackles outrageous subjects (pornography, transvestism, bisexuality and drug abuse) with both grace and mischievous glee.
Rated: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Theatrical Release: 15-09-2006
Synopsis: Joaquín Oristrell's UNCONSCIOUS is a a very funny romantic farce set in the supposedly austere psychiatric society of 1913 Barcelona. León Pardo (Alex Brendemühl) is a psychiatrist who suddenly disappears, telling his devoted pregnant wife, Alma (Leonor Watling), not to look for him.... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Leonor Watling, Luis Tosar, Alex Brendemuhl, Mercedes Sampietro, Juanjo Puigcorbe
Director: Joaquin Oristrell
Screenwriter: Joaquin Oristrell, Teresa de Pelegri, Dominic Harari
Producer: Gerardo Herrero, Marta Esteban, Mariela Besuiveski
Composer: Sergio Moure
Screenwriter: Joaquin Oristrell, Teresa de Pelegri, Dominic Harari
Producer: Gerardo Herrero, Marta Esteban, Mariela Besuiveski
Composer: Sergio Moure
Reviews
Top Critic
We should be thankful for the wit and style of Joaquín Oristrell’s film.
09/23/06
Top Critic Top Critic
A well-observed, sideways portrait of the day, Unconscious is a little gem.
09/23/06
Top Critic
Oristrell stages funny, madcap scenes around bondage, cross-dressing and incest.
05/03/07
The film is sustained effortlessly by the charismatic Watling and Tosar, who are among Spain's most popular movie stars.
04/12/07
Top Critic
Laboring in the wide shadow of Almodóvar and lacking much in the way of visual distinction, Unconscious compensates with its cast’s full-tilt commitment to rip-snorting farce.
04/12/07
[Billy] Wilder would have loved this razor-timed, feather-light comedy set in sexually repressed 1913 Spain.
03/22/07
Oristrell is a modern day Woody Allen, although with a better sense of rhythm and naughty buffoonery. You'll laugh from corners of your subconscious you didn't know you had.
02/13/07
When it is good it is very, very good, and when it's not it's mediocre.
02/13/07
Everything you always wanted to know about sex, and then some. A bawdy, early Woody Allen-esque slapstick comedy!
02/09/07
Film is ultimately unsure of what it wants to say about modernity, psychoanalysis and all it liberates.
02/09/07
The comedy is too broad, lacking the subtlety that the film's high-brow intentions require.
02/09/07
The Freudian farce Unconscious is paced so breathlessly that it keeps you panting to keep up with each new plot twist.
02/09/07
Top Critic
Even with nothing more redeeming than a lot of good one-liners, Unconscious has a charm that your ego, superego and id can all enjoy.
02/09/07
Are the Spanish the only ones these days able to make movie comedies that are smart, sexy, wacky and graceful all at once?
02/08/07
The movie's message is clear: Freud's greatest contribution to society was not the idea that all little boys long to sleep with their mothers -- rather, it's the concept of the unconscious, a hidden place where our secret desires yearn to be free.
02/06/07
The film is so opulently and noisily aestheticized it gives the illusion of being smarter than it is, though it benefits from some endearing performances.
01/24/07
one of the most visually stunning and original movies to come along in a while.
01/11/07
Spanish writer/director Joaquin Oristell brings 2006 to a mostly delightful close with Unconscious, a clever and sweetly risqué period farce brimming with frothy charm and tongue-in-cheek wit.
12/29/06
Related Forums
(2006 USA release)-Joaquín Oristrell's UNCONSCIOUS opens in LA & NYC on Nov., 24th!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
(2006 USA release)-Joaquín Oristrell's UNCONSCIOUS opens in LA & NYC on Nov., 24th!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
(2006 USA release)-Joaquín Oristrell's UNCONSCIOUS opens in LA & NYC on Nov., 24th!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
(2006 USA release)-Joaquín Oristrell's UNCONSCIOUS opens in LA & NYC on Nov., 24th!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 10/21/06
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