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Jamón, jamón
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Jamón, jamón is a 1992 Spanish drama/comedy film directed by Bigas Luna and starring Javier Bardem, Jordi Mollà and Penélope Cruz (in her debut film). It centers around a young woman named Silvia (played by Penélope Cruz). The film is bursting with sexual energy and twisted romantic relationships. Characters have primal lusts, which are described with meat and animal imagery. One of Silvia's suitors (Raúl, played by Javier Bardem) is a wannabe bullfighter, and Silvia's other main love interest (José Luis, her boyfriend in the early parts of the film) suggests that her breasts taste like ham.
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Encyclopedia
Jamón, jamón is a 1992 Spanish drama/comedy film directed by Bigas Luna and starring Javier Bardem, Jordi Mollà and Penélope Cruz (in her debut film). It centers around a young woman named Silvia (played by Penélope Cruz). The film is bursting with sexual energy and twisted romantic relationships. Characters have primal lusts, which are described with meat and animal imagery. One of Silvia's suitors (Raúl, played by Javier Bardem) is a wannabe bullfighter, and Silvia's other main love interest (José Luis, her boyfriend in the early parts of the film) suggests that her breasts taste like ham. At the end of the movie, the two characters vying for her affection beat each other with enormous cuts of serrano ham.
Plot
The story is about Silvia, a beautiful young Spanish woman, who works in the underwear factory owned by José Luis' family. After missing two periods, Silvia reveals to José that she is pregnant expecting him to react negatively. However, to Silvia's surprise and delight, José expresses his love for her and desire for her to go through with the pregnancy. Romantically, he picks up the ring from a soda can he finds on the ground and places it on her finger and tells her they will get married. Despite the apparent monetary worthlessness of this item, Silvia cherishes it and all that it symbolizes.
José has a difficult time explaining to his overbearing and conniving mother that he is in love with Silvia and intends to marry her. José's mother, Conchita, does not approve and when her husband refuses to help her in intervening, she takes matters into her own hands. She hires an underwear model who works for the family business to seduce Silvia hoping this will destroy the relationship and prevent the marriage. In spite of several aggressive attempts by Raul to seduce her, Silvia stays true to her commitment to marry José. Raúl becomes genuinely infatuated with Silvia and Conchita's lust for Raúl leads her to offer him anything he wants if he has sex with her. His choice is a Yamaha 600 motorbike. Despite Raúl's apparent lack of interest in Conchita, he services her effectively and she becomes his lover.
Meanwhile, José's inability to make a decision for himself, i.e., the decision to marry Silvia without his mother's approval, results in Silvia's desire for a 'real man', one who has gumption. She begins to take interest in Raúl, however, Conchita does not approve of this relationship either as she wants Raúl for herself. In the end, there is a fight to the death involving legs of ham. José ends up dead at the hands of Raúl and the entire affair is the fault of Conchita. The films ends with a peculiar grieving scene which encapsulates the recurring and themes of primal instincts, infidelity and destruction.
Title
In Spanish, jamón means "ham." Repeating "jamón, jamón, jamón..." is a children language game, since it sounds like "monja, monja, monja..." ("nun, nun, nun")
Location
The film was shot on the Monegros desert of Zaragoza.
Awards
External links
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