FALLING STAR

The reign of Amadeus Ferdinand Maria of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, who as King Amadeo I sought to bring order to the chaotic conditions in Spain from 1870 to 1873, was short and hapless. Falling Star (Stella Cadente) shows the monarch as a shy idealist, somewhat reminiscent of the Bavarian King Ludwig II; like the latter, a somewhat dreamy aesthete, not very capable of reality, who dreams of improving conditions and fails in the face of political reality, made up of palace intrigues, party disputes and interference from the clergy.

With Falling Star, Lluís Miñarro, who was born in Barcelona in 1949 and has made a significant contribution as a producer not only to contemporary Spanish-language cinema, makes his feature film debut after two documentaries and a short film. He carves out a somewhat playful, then decidedly reductionist, equally abstract and lavishly fabulous flourish to the genre of the historical/costume film. In it, he frees the fixed puppet king from his forced ennui and the resulting melancholy, places him in colorful tableaux, garnishes him with occasionally crude jokes and exposes his rule as a spectacle which, if it remains without an audience, turns the ruler into a grotesque pop dance.