Fernando Ferran Gomez wrote and stars in STILTS (LOS ZANCOS), a bittersweet May-December romance. When Angel (Gomez), a literature professor in his sixties, goes to his country house to recover from the death of his wife, he quickly falls into a deep depression and is saved from a suicide attempt by the timely arrival of his neighbor, Terese (Laura del Sol) who invites him for dinner. Terese and her boyfriend, Alberto (Antonio Banderas, both in their late twenties, have moved to the country to get away from the crowds and noise of Madrid. She is a teacher, he's an actor with a troop that performs medieval fairy tales on stilts. Angel agrees to write a play for the troop in order to spend time with Terese, with whom he falls helplessly in love. THE STILTS comments on the generation gap in Spanish art and culture. Angel is from the old Spain, he reads the melancholy verses of Quevedo to Terese, but she prefers the fun of doing plays on stilts. Saura does a splendid job of filming the actors on stilts and the play they perform is very funny, making a nice contrast to the sad love story. Banderas, in a small role, still exudes the star quality that later brought him leading roles in American films.

release year: 1984

star(s): Antonio Banderas