“CRÓNICA SENTIMENTAL EN ROJO” (1986)

 (In English below)  

 ¿Cómo era la Barcelona antes de las Olimpiadas? Cuando las Ramblas eran las Ramblas, y no el espectáculo circense de cara al turismo en que se han convertido; la calle Conde del Asalto (ahora reconvertida en “carrer Nou de la Rambla”) era, digámoslo claramente, la calle de las putas;  el ahora Raval, barrio de turistas extranjeros de pasta, era el “barrio chino”; y La Vanguardia, si La Vanguardia, estaba en la otrora llamada calle Pelayo. Este mundo que lo recreó magníficamente Vázquez Montalbán en la serie de novela negra “Carvalho” en los setenta y ochenta del siglo pasado no tuvo su adecuada traslación cinematográfica, con la excepción de la película que nos ocupa: dirigida por otro “olvidado”, Francisco Rovira Beleta.

Esta película está basada en la novela homónima (1984) de Francisco González Ledesma, ganadora del Planeta aquel año. Forma parte de la serie del Comisario Méndez, protagonista de hasta diez novelas del autor. No las he leído todas. Para mí, “Crónica sentimental en rojo” (1984) es la mejor.  El resto de la serie perdía “gas”: solo me interesaban las “salidas de tono” del Comisario. En cambio, en las demás novelas, las tramas me resultaban inverosímiles. 

Pero esto no ocurre con la que nos ocupa, “Crónica sentimental en rojo” (1984), que ofrece un relato ajustado, realista o “reflejo” de la Barcelona de aquella época. Y la adaptación cinematográfica de Rovira Beleta, para los que hayamos disfrutado de la novela, es sencillamente un prodigio de sencillez. A diferencia del cine americano, aquí no hacen falta escenas de violencia, ni tiroteos ni persecuciones de coches… La tensión se refleja en el diálogo. Y, para mí, esto es mérito de Rovira Beleta, un director “independiente” (cuando esta palabra quería decir que te la jugabas con cada proyecto de película), que no se “plegó” a trabajar ni para el franquismo (empezó a rodar en 1948) ni para TV3.  

La película “goza” (nunca mejor dicho) de dos interpretaciones en estado de gracia:  José Luis López Vázquez -un “grande” que tuvo que sobrevivir haciendo de todo- y una belleza de la época, además de mejor actriz, Assumpta Serna.  

Vázquez, como el comisario Méndez, está que se sale: es un heredero de los viejos tiempos del franquismo, al que los cambios de la democracia le han cogido con el pie cambiado, pero es lo bastante veterano para salirse de todas las situaciones o casi, porque, en esta “peli”, ha de lidiar con Assumpta Serna…  Esta última da una dimensión muy “barcelonesa” a su personaje. Sí, “guapas herederas con pasta” las ha habido siempre en el cine o novela negra. Pero, si las podemos identificar con personas o situaciones de nuestro entorno, estos personajes ganan en interés. La trama es rebuscada pero no “chirría”: el papel del boxeador reconvertido en guardaespaldas gigolo, de hecho, recuerdo que me resultó más creíble en la “peli” que en la novela. Esto sería otro mérito de Rovira Beleta. Pero hablo desde el recuerdo de hace mucho tiempo. Curiosamente el actor que hizo este papel, no cuajó y no lo recuerdo de otras “pelis”. El final tiene un giro inesperado -como en todas las películas de “cine negro”- que ya lo querrían los americanos para sus mejores producciones… 

Por desgracia, para los aficionados del cine negro, esta película no tuvo continuidad con el personaje de Vázquez como el comisario Méndez, pues además fue la última película de su director. Fue un gran final, es lo único que podemos decir.   

Debajo adjunto el “link” donde se puede ver esta película por TVE. 

https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/historia-de-nuestro-cine/historia-nuestro-cine-cronic(1986) a-sentimental-rojo/4477218/  

En Barcelona, a 17 de junio de 2020. 

What was Barcelona like before the Olympics? When the Ramblas were the Ramblas and not the circus show this avenue has become for the tourists.

When the street  Conde del Asalto (now renamed in Catalan as “carrer Nou de la Rambla”) was, let's say it bluntly, a whores' street and the Raval, now a district where wealthy tourists live, was then the “barrio chino” (the "Chinese district", a slum) and the daily "La Vanguardia", yes "La Vanguardia", was located in what was then called "calle Pelayo" ("Pelayo Street). That time -that was superbly recreated by Vázquez Montalbán in the crime fiction series of his private-eye “Carvalho” in the seventies and eighties from the last century-, did not have its proper movie's adaptations but in the case of this film, “Crónica sentimental en rojo” -"A Sentimental Chronicle in Red"- (1986), directed by another "long forgotten" director, Mr. Francisco Rovira Beleta.

This movie is based on the novel by the same name (1984), written by Mr. Francisco González Ledesma, winner of the Planeta (1) Prize that year. It is part of a series of ten novels starring Police Commissioner, Mr. Mendez. Even though I haven't read them all, I think “Crónica sentimental en rojo” -"A Sentimental Chronicle in Red"- (1984) is by far the best one.  As for the rest of the series, I think they lost steam: in my case, I was just interested in reading them because of the outbursts by the Police Commissioner. Instead, the plots of his other novels, in my opinion, were quite inconsistent.  

But this is not the case with our novel here, “Crónica sentimental en rojo” -"A Sentimental Chronicle in Red"- (1984), which offers a balanced, realistic and faithful description of the Barcelona of that time.  And its movie adaptation by Rovira Beleta, for those of us who had enjoyed the novel, is a marvel of simplicity. Unlike what's common in American movies, here there’s no need for violent scenes, shoot-outs or car chases...  The tension is reflected in the dialogue. This, in my opinion, is all thanks to Rovira Beleta, an "independent” movie director (when that word meant that you were risking it all every time you were making a movie as failure could mean the end of your movie career), who never submitted himself to work either for Francoism (he began making movies in 1948) nor for TV3 (2). 

This movie is also "blessed" (never better said) with two performances in state of grace: one by Mr. José Luis López Vázquez -a great actor who had to survive playing all kind of roles- and the other one by a beauty of that time, besides being even a better actress, Assumpta Serna.  

Vázquez, as Police Commissioner Méndez, is over the top: he plays the role of a veteran policeman who comes from Franco's times and therefore he finds it hard to adapt to the new times brought by democracy. Still, as a veteran, he can always find his way out of every difficult situation or almost, because in this movie he has to deal with beautiful Assumpta Serna… Indeed, beautiful rich heiresses have always lived in both novels & movies of the noir genre. But if we can identify them with people or situations of our surroundings, these characters become more interesting. In this movie the plot is a bit convoluted but it doesn´t lose its thread: the former boxer turned into a bodyguard gigolo, in my recollection, he seemed to me more credible in the movie than in the novel. This would be another success by Rovira Beleta. Still I’m talking from my recollection, as I read the novel many years ago. Curiously enough, the actor who played the boxer, he didn´t become famous & I don´t remember him from other movies. The ending has an unexpected twist -as all film “noirs” do- that Hollywood would have loved it for their own productions… 

Unfortunately, to all film noir lovers -like myself-, the character of Police Commissioner Méndez, played by Vázquez, didn’t have a follow-up, besides being the last movie made by its director. A grand finale he had, that’s all we can say.

Below find the “link” where you can watch this movie through RTVE (Spanish TV), though it’s only spoken and subtitled in Spanish.  

https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/historia-de-nuestro-cine/historia-nuestro-cine-cronic(1986) a-sentimental-rojo/4477218/  

 (1) The Planeta Prize, together with the Nadal Prize are the top awards in Spain for novels written in Castilian language. Some very good Spanish writers have been promoted through those Prizes.

(2) In the case of Rovira Beleta, for somebody who began making movies in 1948, when Spain was under Franco’s right-wing dictatorship, this was when Franco’s censorship was at its strongest & in order to survive in the movie business, you had to do movies that were “approved” or “friendly” to Francoism. Later on, when democracy arrived in Spain, there was (and still is) a local Catalan TV station set up, TV3, financed by public money which, in order to finance your projects, will always look whether they are “friendly” enough to the Catalan nationalistic “regime” (be that what it may).  

In Barcelona, on June, 14th, 2024.