Jaime Chávarri

Directing

Jaime Chávarri

Born 1943-03-20 · Madrid, España

Spanish film director born in Madrid. Graduated in Law, he never practiced as a lawyer. He later studied for two years at the Escuela Oficial de Cinematografía and worked as a film critic for the magazine Film Ideal while making several short films in super-8. His first solo feature film was Los viajes escolares (1974). In 1976 he released El desencanto, a biographical documentary about the poet Leopoldo Panero. The film was awarded the Best Film Award by the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos. A un dios desconocido (1977) starred Héctor Alterio and its script was written by Elías Querejeta. It was followed by Dedicatoria (1980) and Bearn o la sala de las muñecas (1983), starring Fernando Rey, Imanol Arias and Ángela Molina. One of his most recognized works is Las bicicletas son para el verano (1984), based on a play by Fernando Fernán Gómez. The film, starring Agustín González, Victoria Abril, Marisa Paredes and Gabino Diego, is set during the Spanish Civil War. El río de oro (1986) stars Ángela Molina. It is followed by Las cosas del querer (1989), in whose script Fernando Colomo participated. Tierno verano de lujurias y azoteas (1992) is a comedy starring Gabino Diego, Marisa Paredes and Imanol Arias. In 1994 he directed the sequel to Las cosas del querer with the same actors. A year later he released Gran Slalom (1996), with a script by Rafael Azcona. The film stars Juanjo Puigcorbé and Pilar Bardem, among others. The following year he directed a Spanish-Argentine co-production entitled Sus ojos se cerraron y el mundo sigue andando (1997). In 2002 he directed Besos para todos, starring Emma Suárez and Eloy Azorín and in 2004 El año del diluvio, an adaptation of the novel by Eduardo Mendoza. His latest feature film was Camarón (2005), for which he co-wrote the script with Álvaro del Amo. The film is based on the biography of the flamenco singer José Monje Cruz, Camarón de la Isla, who is given life by the actor Óscar Jaenada in a splendid characterization. The film won three Goya awards for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Leading Actor.

Acting credits

She Walks in Darkness poster
6.7

A young agent leaves everything behind to pose as a member of ETA, risking her life to uncover the terrorists' hideouts in the south of France.

She Walks in Darkness

2025

Matador poster
6.7

A conflicted youth confesses to crimes he didn't commit while a man and woman aroused by death become obsessed with each other.

Matador

1986

The Apostate poster
5.4

A young man navigates the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church when he tries to renounce his faith.

The Apostate

2015

What Have I Done to Deserve This? poster
7.1

A henpecked housewife ekes out a meager existence, surrounded by a host of colorful characters: her ungrateful husband, her delinquent sons, her headstrong mother-in-law, and her sex worker neighbor, among others.

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

1984

Cuento Chino poster
10.0

Pili is a middle-age woman. She owns a tabacco shop in a working class neighberhood of Madrid, and she is a gambler. Enraged by the prize of a slot machine, she will chase Ying and Li-Sung throughout the neighborhood. How far will she be willing to go?

Cuento Chino

2019

La casa de los retratos poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

La casa de los retratos

2023

No artwork available
5.8

The making of Iván Zulueta's film Arrebato (1979). Interviews with cast, crew, and producers.

Arrebatos

1998

Un, dos, tres, al escondite inglés poster
5.7

A band of young musicians will do the impossible to boycott a song they didn't like that's supposed to represent Spain in a famous musical contest.

Un, dos, tres, al escondite inglés

1969

The Impeccable Sinner poster
6.3

Honorio Sigüenza is a man in his forties who has always lived under the yoke of his possessive mother. When his mother dies, he undergoes a radical transformation that will lead him to live numerous love affairs in the face of the disapproval of his cousin Veni, who wanted to marry him.

The Impeccable Sinner

1987

Howard Hawks, San Sebastián 1972 poster
NR

In 1972, the American film director Howard Hawks travelled to San Sebastian to preside over the jury of the Film Festival. Two young film buffs, Jesús Martínez León and José Luis Cuerda, came from Madrid in the hope of interviewing him. After thirty years of life and films we recover that unpublished interview.

Howard Hawks, San Sebastián 1972

2003

National Heritage poster
7.1

After the death of General Franco, the Leguineche family leaves their estate of Los Tejadillos, where they have remained for decades in voluntary exile, with the purpose of returning to Madrid to actively participate in the social events of the aristocracy and to get closer to the closest circle of the Spanish monarch. The obsession of the old marquis is centered on getting in touch with the most illustrious surnames, to ascend socially and to resume the pomp and courtly life that his family lost a long time ago. To this end, he decides to move into an old palace he owns, located in the center of the capital, but not before overcoming the difficulties posed by his wife, who deeply hates both her husband and her son. To regain control of the palace, the Marquis of Leguineche tries to handicap his wife, arguing an incurable mental illness, and then undertake a reform of the place in order to adapt it to aristocratic life.

National Heritage

1981

Erotic Stories poster
4.1

A set of nine stories whose central theme is eroticism. The different directors of the film deal from philosophical aspects to others that are almost pornographic, but always with a common denominator: sensuality.

Erotic Stories

1980

A flor de piel (C) poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

A flor de piel (C)

1974

Cerré los ojos y me hablaron las hormigas poster
NR

Francisco is a beggar who lives in the Almudena cemetery. One afternoon, while walking among the graves, he meets Julio, another peculiar beggar who claims to be a poet.

Cerré los ojos y me hablaron las hormigas

2023

The Last Rapture poster
6.0

Arrebato (1980) is the great cult movie of today's Spanish cinema and Iván Zulueta, its director, an accursed filmmaker. Arrebato was the film that forecast the end of the movida, a dark and harrowing reel whose history and intra-history are intimately linked. Arrebato acts as a premonition of the director’s own life. Just like his actors, Zulueta will end up being brought down by drugs and the cinema and, like them, will also disappear.

The Last Rapture

2025

Berlanga!! poster
8.0

How does the vision of the brilliant Spanish filmmaker Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010) remain relevant in a time whose popular culture has little to do with his own? Since to understand the secrets of an artist it is essential to know the person behind, his family, his friends, his collaborators, as well as prestigious filmmakers and actors trace a collective portrait of a creator as singular as he is universal.

Berlanga!!

2021

Cake of Blood poster
6.0

Four part anthology horror film, with segments featuring witchcraft, ghosts, Frankenstein and his monster, and ancient Christians battling Celtic vampires.

Cake of Blood

1971

Writing Heads poster
NR

They are the first and the last, those who imagine stories and give voice to the characters who live them. However, they never speak. But now, they emerge from the shadows of a poorly lit room and tell their secrets, their tricks, their influences; they tell their own story, that of those who face the blank page, the absolute nothingness; that of those who are the true authors, those who create and destroy entire universes. They are the screenwriters.

Writing Heads

2013

Aute retrato poster
7.5

A journey through the different creative facets of Luis Eduardo Aute: singer and songwriter, painter, poet, filmmaker. Collaborators and friends tell the life of this total artist and reveal the impact his work has had in the past, has in the present and will have in the future.

Aute retrato

2019

Ida y vuelta poster
6.5

Elena, a shy and unmarried girl, belonging to the upper middle class and somewhat marginalized from the general environment, embarks on a trip to the family farmhouse one morning, and when she returns to the city that same day, at night, she is forced to take a strange woman in her car.

Ida y vuelta

1968

Sombras y luces: Cien años de cine español poster
8.3

No synopsis available yet.

Sombras y luces: Cien años de cine español

1996

No artwork available
6.3

Salamanca director Chema de la Peña recalls in this feature documentary professionals early filmmakers like Fernando Colomo, Fernando Trueba, Imanol Uribe, Carmen Maura and Antonio Resines, protagonists of the so called 'New Spanish Cinema' in the 80s. His first films were produced between friends, her back to the industry. Rolled with minimal budget and with the sole intention of having fun ... And big surprise were critical and box office successes. And also true generational manifestos.

Un cine como tú en un país como éste

2010

All Night Long poster
6.7

Like so many other actors, Ava Gardner hated to watch her films. She said that the woman on the screen wasn't her. But all films tell two stories: the plot and the tale of the bodies filmed. This film narrates what happened between two images: a first shot of 'Pandora' and a first shot of 'Harem', the first and last movie filmed by the actress in Spain. Ava must certainly have thought that neither of these two women had anything in common with herself.

All Night Long

2010

24 horas en la vida de Querejeta poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

24 horas en la vida de Querejeta

2012

Behind the camera

La intrusa poster
5.0

The Galgo brothers are inseparable macho loners living in the heart of Andalucia at the turn of the century. One day Rafael comes home with Gracia, who is to be his servant and lover. They become trapped in a hell of their own making.

La intrusa

1993

Madrid 11-M: todos íbamos en ese tren poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Madrid 11-M: todos íbamos en ese tren

2005

Vampyros Lesbos poster
5.7

An erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.

Vampyros Lesbos

1971

El río de oro poster
4.4

During a long summer, the tranquility of a couple and their three children resting in a country house is altered with the arrival of the children's uncle, a character who exerts a curious influence on the boys and a morbid and strange attraction the wife. Twelve years after 'Los viajes escolares' (1973), his first commercial feature film, the Madrid director Jaime Chávarri returns to the same estate in the province of Segovia to shoot a new family story, about his own plot and script. Like its predecessor, 'The Golden River' contains a strong autobiographical charge and is full of personal resonances. But this new history of family ties is narrated from a perspective in which adultery manifests itself openly. Endowed with a slow narrative rhythm, the film presents an international cast headed by Ángela Molina, Bruno Ganz, Francesca Annis and Stefan Gubser. The film also has the presence of a very young Juan Diego Botto, in one of his first appearances on the big screen.

El río de oro

1986

El río de oro poster
4.4

During a long summer, the tranquility of a couple and their three children resting in a country house is altered with the arrival of the children's uncle, a character who exerts a curious influence on the boys and a morbid and strange attraction the wife. Twelve years after 'Los viajes escolares' (1973), his first commercial feature film, the Madrid director Jaime Chávarri returns to the same estate in the province of Segovia to shoot a new family story, about his own plot and script. Like its predecessor, 'The Golden River' contains a strong autobiographical charge and is full of personal resonances. But this new history of family ties is narrated from a perspective in which adultery manifests itself openly. Endowed with a slow narrative rhythm, the film presents an international cast headed by Ángela Molina, Bruno Ganz, Francesca Annis and Stefan Gubser. The film also has the presence of a very young Juan Diego Botto, in one of his first appearances on the big screen.

El río de oro

1986

Camarón: When Flamenco Became Legend poster
6.7

The life of Camarón de la Isla, the legendary Spanish flamenco cantaor, from his beginning until his death; the relationships he struck up with his wife, la Chispa, and guitarists Paco de Lucía, Tomatito and Paco Cepero…

Camarón: When Flamenco Became Legend

2005

Camarón: When Flamenco Became Legend poster
6.7

The life of Camarón de la Isla, the legendary Spanish flamenco cantaor, from his beginning until his death; the relationships he struck up with his wife, la Chispa, and guitarists Paco de Lucía, Tomatito and Paco Cepero…

Camarón: When Flamenco Became Legend

2005

Kisses for Everyone poster
5.3

Three students are sent by their families to Cadiz in 1965, his last chance to pass and become what is expected of them. The appearance of some dancers disrupts their commitments: boys lose the course and girls, their work. But together they learn to decide their future.

Kisses for Everyone

2000

Dedicated to... poster
4.7

A mix of characters and actions create only a semblance of a plot in this confusing tale of intrigue, undefined crimes, and incest. A newspaper reporter is working on a story about a criminal serving time in jail. He interviews the prisoner, has an affair with the criminal's daughter, and also spends some time in bed with his editor's wife. His amorous life is an adjunct to his searching out the details of the prisoner's case -- though tragedy strikes before the journalist can wrap everything up. In the meantime, it becomes clear that the daughter and imprisoned father had an incestuous relationship, raising more questions than answers.

Dedicated to...

1980

Dedicated to... poster
4.7

A mix of characters and actions create only a semblance of a plot in this confusing tale of intrigue, undefined crimes, and incest. A newspaper reporter is working on a story about a criminal serving time in jail. He interviews the prisoner, has an affair with the criminal's daughter, and also spends some time in bed with his editor's wife. His amorous life is an adjunct to his searching out the details of the prisoner's case -- though tragedy strikes before the journalist can wrap everything up. In the meantime, it becomes clear that the daughter and imprisoned father had an incestuous relationship, raising more questions than answers.

Dedicated to...

1980

El gran amante poster
NR

A young woman, fan of a leading actor, sneaks into a film set and pretends to be the main actress.

El gran amante

1969

El gran amante poster
NR

A young woman, fan of a leading actor, sneaks into a film set and pretends to be the main actress.

El gran amante

1969

Tierno verano de lujurias y azoteas poster
5.0

A youngster recently arrived to Spain from Russia falls in love with his own cousin who is an astonishingly beautiful actress and, besides, much older than him.

Tierno verano de lujurias y azoteas

1993

Tierno verano de lujurias y azoteas poster
5.0

A youngster recently arrived to Spain from Russia falls in love with his own cousin who is an astonishingly beautiful actress and, besides, much older than him.

Tierno verano de lujurias y azoteas

1993

Tangos Are for Two poster
5.9

A woman's voice says she was wife to Renzo Franchi and Carlos Gardel (1890-1935), Argentina's great tango singer. People say she's crazy. Her story unfolds. Buenos Aires, 1933: Juana Romero, a seamstress who lives for the music of Gardel, dumps her boyfriend Gustavo for Renzo, a singer who looks like Gardel. She insists that his trio performs Gardel's tangos, which leads to Renzo recording a Ford commercial when Gardel himself is overbooked. The trio, with Joanna in tow, goes on an ill-fated tour of points north. The couple breaks up: she goes home and he tries to get to New York. Fate steps in, and once again he's called upon to pose as Gardel. Then, legend and a bracelet take over. Written by

Tangos Are for Two

1998

Bicycles Are for the Summer poster
6.9

In Madrid, the family of Don Luis, his wife Dolores and their children, Manolita and Luisito, share the daily life of the Civil War with their maid and neighbours. Despite having failed his exams, Luisito wants his father to buy him a bicycle. However, the situation forces them to delay the purchase and the delay, like the war itself, is to last much longer than expected.

Bicycles Are for the Summer

1984

The Things of Love poster
7.0

In 1940's Madrid. Juan plays piano for Pepita and her on-stage partner Mario. Although Mario really wants to steal Juan for himself, Juan is not interested and Mario resorts to a string of lovers as consolation. When he loves (and leaves) a young nobleman, the young man wants revenge.

The Things of Love

1989

The Things of Love poster
7.0

In 1940's Madrid. Juan plays piano for Pepita and her on-stage partner Mario. Although Mario really wants to steal Juan for himself, Juan is not interested and Mario resorts to a string of lovers as consolation. When he loves (and leaves) a young nobleman, the young man wants revenge.

The Things of Love

1989

Un, dos, tres, al escondite inglés poster
5.7

A band of young musicians will do the impossible to boycott a song they didn't like that's supposed to represent Spain in a famous musical contest.

Un, dos, tres, al escondite inglés

1969

What's a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? poster
4.0

Persecuted by her controlling ex-husband, Rosa plots an escape

What's a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?

1978

La manzana de oro poster
3.2

No synopsis available yet.

La manzana de oro

2023

La manzana de oro poster
3.2

No synopsis available yet.

La manzana de oro

2023

Run, Blancanieves, Run poster
NR

Since her earliest childhood, Blancanieves has lived with seven men who have cared for and protected her, but this has never been enough for her, because she wants to be a movie star, a dream that disturbs her guardians.

Run, Blancanieves, Run

1967

Run, Blancanieves, Run poster
NR

Since her earliest childhood, Blancanieves has lived with seven men who have cared for and protected her, but this has never been enough for her, because she wants to be a movie star, a dream that disturbs her guardians.

Run, Blancanieves, Run

1967