JUANA THE MAD
JUANA LA LOCA



Spain-Italy-Portugal, 2001, 117 min, color

This lavish historical drama was inspired by the true story of Juana the Mad, Queen of Spain. Still young she was engaged to Filipe, a powerful nobleman from Brussels. Juana is upset that she must leave her beloved Alvaro de Estuniga. But from the first time she sees Filipe, she's passionately attracted to him, and he soon awakens her to the joys of love. While Juana is happy with her new husband, Filipe and his confidantes believe she is too unskilled to truly fulfill her royal obligations, which leads to tension between Filipe and Juana. Her rise to power is tempered by anger and disappointment when Juana learns Filipe is having an affair with Aixa, an exotic dancer. When Juana returns to Spain to take the throne, Filipe joins her, but brings along Aixa, ostensibly as a maid; outraged, Juana decides to fight fire with fire and attempts to renew her romance with Alvaro. Filipe, who hopes to rise to political power, can no longer abide Juana's headstrong nature, and in cahoots with the Spanish authorities, he has her arrested. Juana finds herself behind bars for the next 50 years.

Best known for his female-driven and often erotic films ("The Lovers", "Jealousy"), the veteran Aranda's toned-down script is contrived to create a sympathetic character portrayal of Juana, going so far as to give her a hero's speech in a climactic scene where she reclaims her birthright to the throne. But Lopez de Ayala gives a visceral performance which captures the audience and has positioned her as the actress-to-watch in Spain at the moment. With her plain yet attractive features and young physique, she was also physically well cast in the role of the twentysomething future queen.