La buena estrella
| La Buena Estrella | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ricardo Franco |
| Produced by | Pedro Costa, Enrique Cerezo P.C. |
| Written by | Ángeles González Sinde Ricardo Franco Alvaro del Amo |
| Starring |
Antonio Resines Jordi Mollá Maribel Verdú |
| Music by | Eva Gancedo |
| Cinematography | Tote Trenas |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
| Budget | P175,000,000 |
La Buena Estrella (English: The Lucky Star) is a 1997 Spanish drama film directed by Ricardo Franco and starring Antonio Resines, Jordi Mollá and Maribel Verdú. Critically acclaimed, the film won five Goya Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Antonio Resines), Best Original script and Best Original Music. Ricardo Franco made just one more film; he died of a heart attack in 1998.
Rafael is a kind, good-hearted butcher. He has a lonely life after accidentally castrating himself while cutting meat several years before, but he longs to have a family life, a dream that seems unattainable for him. One early morning when he is driving his truck to his butcher’s shop, he sees a young man assaulting a woman. Rafael cannot help but intervene and jumps out of his vehicle to help her. Taking pity on the girl, he takes her to his home. Her name is Marina and the man who was beating her was her boyfriend, Daniel. Marina, nicknamed One-Eye (for she lost one eye in a childhood accident), tells Rafael how she and Daniel grew up together in a hostile environment in an orphanage, where she was left abandoned by her father. Marina feels attach to Daniel, as they do not have anybody else. They have had a hard life on the streets, and now that she is pregnant by him, she is adamant not only to have the baby, that Daniel does not want, but she would like to offer the baby the family life, she never had.
After knowing that Daniel is now in jail, Rafael proposes to Marina to take care of her and the baby. She gladly accepts his offer but warns him that Daniel sooner or later will come back and then she would not know what to do. Marina and Rafael both grab the possibility to fulfill the impossible dream they once had to form a family.
Rafael treats the troubled Marina with kindness and she responds by proving that there is more than one way to be a man and to experience love. In this way, the two find healing and happiness raising Marina's daughter, Estrella, that Rafael recognizes as his own.
Years later, their happiness is threatened by the sudden return of Daniel, fresh out of prison. He knocks on the door one night, beaten and bleeding, just as Marina arrived years ago. He only wants a place to live. Though he knows that Marina has strong, unresolved feelings for Daniel, Rafael does not want to lose her and reluctantly allows Daniel to stay for a few days that become weeks. With only lifetimes of strife in common, the three lonely, disaffected adults thus form an uneasy family.
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