El Jardín de las delicias (The Garden of Delights) (1972)

The greedy relatives of an amnesic and paralytic 45 years old millionaire try him to recover his memory by any means.

Critic Reviews

Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
Saura uses sardonic gags for the decay of a culture growing deformed beneath the straitjacket of fascism

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Eric B

Based on loving "Cria Cuervos" and "Peppermint Frappe" (also directed by Carlos Saura), I was eager to see "The Garden of Delights." Sad to say, this film didn't connect with me nearly as much. The story follows business executive Antonio (Jose Luis… More
Based on loving "Cria Cuervos" and "Peppermint Frappe" (also directed by Carlos Saura), I was eager to see "The Garden of Delights." Sad to say, this film didn't connect with me nearly as much. The story follows business executive Antonio (Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez, also the star of "Frappe"), who has suffered a brain injury in a car accident. He has amnesia, and also struggles to regain motor control over his body and speech. His family and co-workers (motivated by greed more than love) try to jar his memory, even going so far as to stage recreations of past events. As his troubled history is gradually revealed, the line between stagings, narrative flashbacks and pure surrealism is not always clear. But this is essentially a flat tale that does not lead anywhere satisfying. Like the other Saura films I've seen, "The Garden of Delights" apparently makes allegorical points about Spanish fascism that I lack sufficient background to appreciate. At the very least, the peculiar ending implies that Antonio's vulnerable condition has a symbolic, sociological aspect. But more impatient viewers will have already bailed out by then.