Una Mujer sin amor (A Woman Without Love) (1951)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Eric B

  
  "A Woman Without Love" is certainly one of Luis Bunuel's least characteristic films. Minus some cynicism about the temptations of beautiful women, this soppy melodrama is virtually untouched by Bunuel's usual trademarks. Based on a Guy de Maupassant short story,… More
  "A Woman Without Love" is certainly one of Luis Bunuel's least characteristic films. Minus some cynicism about the temptations of beautiful women, this soppy melodrama is virtually untouched by Bunuel's usual trademarks. Based on a Guy de Maupassant short story, the tale focuses on a young woman who has put financial security before love and married an older, somewhat boorish doctor. They have a son, and his behavior problems inadvertently bring together his mother and a kind, handsome forester. The two have an intense but secret romance which is only revealed decades later, when the lover dies and chooses a puzzling heir for his fortune. The filmmaking is surprisingly polished and commercial, with a soap opera's predictable connections between emotional scenes and a swelling, cornball soundtrack. Clichéd moments such as tearing up someone's picture in anger and dramatically timed heart attacks are bound to cause eyerolls. Sad to say, Bunuel completism is the only reason to see this thoroughly unremarkable film.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "A Woman without Love," Rosario(Rosario Granados) is trapped in a loveless marriage to Carlos(Julio Villarreal), a much older man. When their son Carlitos(Jaime Calpe) is accused of theft by his school, he is locked in a room without his dinner by his… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "A Woman without Love," Rosario(Rosario Granados) is trapped in a loveless marriage to Carlos(Julio Villarreal), a much older man. When their son Carlitos(Jaime Calpe) is accused of theft by his school, he is locked in a room without his dinner by his father. Stung by his father's anger, he runs away and Carlos presumes he could not have gone far. However, Carlitos is more resourceful than initially thought and he makes it to a forest where he is found by Julio(Tito Junco) who returns him with the eternal gratitude of his parents. In time, Julio and Rosario begin an affair but she cannot follow him to Brazil, in order to take of her ailing husband.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]On the surface, "A Woman without Love" may seem like just another vapid soap opera and an unsatisfying ending does nothing to dispel this. But I think director Luis Bunuel has more on his mind than that and tells a story where the traditional past gives way to a modern future. At the beginning of the film, Rosario is married to a man she does not love and who sells antiques. As time goes on, there is a marriage for love and, of special interest, one of the women is a doctor.[/font]