The yearly American Film Market brings with it films from many
different countries and thats where I ran into a showing
of Juana La Loca (Mad Love).
The story
takes place in the 15th Century where the Queen of Castile
and heir to the crown of Aragon marries her daughter Princess
Joan (Pilar Lopez de Ayala) to Philip the Handsome of Brussels
(Daniele Liotti) for political reasons.
Initially
Joan and Phillip are madly in love with each other and all
is well. But it doesnt take long for Phillip to get
bored with his wife and start womanizing. This drives Joan
into a jealous rage and she tries to win her husbands
love back. The more she tries to get her husband to pay attention
to her the more he cheats on her.
Soon other
problems arise. Due some deaths in Joan family, she ends up
Queen of Castile and heir to the Crown of Aragon. This creates
a secret battle between the Flemish and Castilian nobility
for control of the empire.
To make
matters worse, Joan outrageous behavior due to her husbands
carnal lust for other women puts her in a vulnerable position.
It allows her husband to convince many that his wife is insane
as he tries to transfer all of Joans powers as Queen
to himself. If he succeeds, Philips powers will increase
many folds and make him sole king of a vast territory.
This tale
of lust, greed and corruption is presented as a battle of
wits mostly between Joan and Philip as they plot with their
supporters how to get what they want.
Mad Love
is full of raw emotion mixed with intrigue. You get a lot
of odd behavior and screaming from Joan and mostly blasé
reaction from Philip which is repeated often to the point
of being redundant.
Director
Vincente Aranda gives you too many uneven peaks and valleys
of sensations that are not easily digested. Just when you
think things are starting to get interesting you get distracted
by conceited plot twists.
If you
are looking for time period piece with sporadic moments of
illicit pleasure then Mad Love is your aphrodisiac.
3 out of 5
GIL BENZEEVI
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