Jamón, jamón
Encyclopedia
Cinema of Spain
The art of motion-picture making within the nation of Spain or by Spanish filmmakers abroad is collectively known as Spanish Cinema.In recent years, Spanish cinema has achieved high marks of recognition as a result of its creative and technical excellence...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
/drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
film directed by Bigas Luna
Bigas Luna
Juan José Bigas Luna is a Spanish film director. He began his professional career in the design world, creating the Estudio Gris with Carlos Riart in 1969. In his earlier exhibitions, at the beginning of the sixties, he showed a great interest in conceptual art and the emerging visual technologies...
and starring Javier Bardem
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los...
, Jordi Mollà
Jordi Mollà
Jordi Mollá Perales is a Spanish actor, filmmaker, writer and artist.Mollà's artwork is represented in the Carmen De la Guerra Gallery in Madrid, Picasso Mio Gallery in Madrid and Barcelona and Cold Creation Gallery in Barcelona...
and Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
in her debut film. It centres around a young woman named Silvia played by Cruz. According to LoveFilm
LoveFilm
LoveFilm is a UK-based provider of home video and video game rental through DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia...
, the film is bursting with sexual energy and twisted romantic relationships. The film is an allegory for Spain itself and the director engages in word play and pun. It rhapsodises on the juxtaposition of old and new in Spain and many other emotional contrasts such as erotic desire and food.
Plot
Silvia, a beautiful young woman, prepares omelettes for the workers 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 Luis expresses his love for her and desire for her to go through with the pregnancy. He romantically 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 symbolises.José Luis has a difficult time explaining to his overbearing and conniving mother that he is in love with Silvia and intends to marry her. His mother, Conchita, does not approve and when her husband refuses to help her by intervening, she takes matters into her own hands. She hires Raúl, 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 Silvia, she remains committed to marry José Luis. Raúl however, becomes genuinely infatuated with Silvia while Conchita's lust for Raúl leads her to offer him anything he wants if only he has sex with her. Raúl's choice is a Yamaha FZR600
Yamaha FZR600
The Yamaha FZR600 is a sports motorcycle produced by Yamaha between 1989 and 1999. It was the successor to the FZ600 and was replaced by the YZF-600R...
motorbike so, despite his apparent lack of interest in Conchita, he becomes her lover.
Meanwhile, José Luis's inability to come to a decision about whether to marry Silvia without his mother's approval, leads to Silvia's deciding she wants a "real man", one who has gumption. She begins to take interest in Raúl. Conchita does not approve of this relationship either because she wants Raúl for herself. Silvia, in the meantime, starts responding to Raúl's advances. This enrages José Luis, who rapes Silvia and swears to kill Raúl.
The film ends with a fight to the death between José and Raúl. José Luis catches Raúl having sex with Conchita and engages in duel with legs of ham for weapons. José Luis is eventually killed by Raúl. Just as the couple grieve over José Luis, Silvia and José Luis's father arrive, followed by Silvia's mother. The films ends with a peculiar grieving scene, which reiterates the recurring themes of primal instincts, infidelity and destruction.
Cast
- Penelope CruzPenélope CruzPenélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
as Silvia - Javier BardemJavier BardemJavier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los...
as Raul - Armando del Rio as Amigo Jose Luis
Food metaphors
With food asthe dominating metaphors in the film, characters have primal lusts (hungers), which are described with meat and animal imageryImage
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
. One of Silvia's suitors (Raúl, played by Javier Bardem) is an aspiring bullfighter. There is a scene of nude bullfighting. At the end of the movie, the two characters vying for her affection beat each other with enormous cuts of these ham hocks.
An example of the use of food imagery occurs in an erotic scene between Silvia and Raúl. At one point he gently pulls down her shirt and starts to suck and lick her nipples. The English subtitles are:
Silvia: How come you like eating my tits?
José Luis: I like the way they taste.
S: What do they taste like?
JL: I don't know. Nothing.
S: Is it that they taste like ham omelette?
JL: That would be asking too much: one tasting like an omelette and the other like ham.
S: José Luis...
The Spanish names of these dishes are jamón serrano
Jamón serrano
Jamón serrano is a type of jamón , which is generally served raw in thin slices, or occasionally diced. The French jambon de Bayonne and Italian prosciutto crudo are similar...
and tortilla de patatas
Tortilla de patatas
The Spanish omelette or Spanish tortilla, also called simply tortilla in English when there is no confusion with the Mexican maize tortilla, is a typically Spanish dish consisting of a thick egg omelette made with potatoes and fried in olive oil....
.
Title
In Spanish, jamónJamón
Jamón is the Spanish word for ham. In English it refers to certain types of dry-cured ham from Spain. There are two primary types of jamón: Jamón serrano and Jamón ibérico ....
means "ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
." Repeating "jamón, jamón, jamón..." is a children's language game
Language game
A language game is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others...
, since it sounds like "monja, monja, monja..." ("nun, nun, nun").
In one scene José comments that the taste of Silvia's two breasts is like ham, suggesting that "Jamón, jamón" may in fact be a double entendre.
Location
The film was shot on the MonegrosCastejón de Monegros
Castejón de Monegros is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 683 inhabitants....
desert of Zaragoza
Zaragoza (province)
Zaragoza is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon.Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also the capital of the autonomous community. Other towns in Zaragoza include Calatayud, Borja, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Ejea de los Caballeros and Tarazona.Its...
.
Awards
Bigas Luna's direction of this comedyComedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
won the Silver Lion
Silver Lion
The Leone d’Argento refers to a number of awards presented at the Venice Film Festival. The Silver Lion is awarded irregularly and have gone through several changes of purpose. Until 1995, Silver Lions were infrequently awarded to a number of films as second prize for those nominated for the...
at the 1992 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
.