Valentin
| Valentín | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alejandro Agresti |
| Produced by | Eddy de Kroes |
| Written by | Alejandro Agresti |
| Starring | Rodrigo Noya Carmen Maura Julieta Cardinali Jean Pierre Noher Mex Urtizberea |
| Narrated by | Rodrigo Noya |
| Music by | Luis Salinas Paul M. van Brugge |
| Cinematography | Jose Luis Cajaraville |
| Edited by | Alejandro Brodersohn |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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86 minutes |
| Country | Argentina France Italy Netherlands Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
Valentín is a 2002 Argentine-French-Italian drama film written and directed by Alejandro Agresti. The film features Rodrigo Noya as Valentín and Carmen Maura as the grandmother. Director Alejandro Agresti also stars as Valentín's father.
The story revolves around the world of an eight-year-old boy, Valentín (Noya), who dreams of one day becoming an astronaut. While caught in the middle of his family, he attempts to better the bewildering world around him.
The story takes place in 1969 and is told through the eyes of Valentín, an eight-year-old small cross-eyed boy (Noya) whose thick black-rimmed glasses sit heavily on his face. He lives with his grandmother (Maura) due to the divorce of his parents. He dreams of being an astronaut one day and intently follows the on-going space race between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union. He no longer sees his Jewish mother, who was chased out of the family home by his imperious, dictator-like father (Agresti). He misses her badly but hardly remembers her. His anti-Semitic father only occasionally visits to his mother and son, preferring to live the life of an Argentine playboy.
Valentín is friends with his uncle Chiche (Jean Pierre Noher) and the piano teacher Rufo who lives across the street (Mex Urtizberea). Both talk to Valentín as if he were an adult, and it seems Valentín is wise beyond his years. His uncle takes him to mass and where a priest (Fabián Vena) talks about the death an Argentinian doctor who was killed recently. He talks about Che Guevara as a man "who believed in an ideal, and who believed that injustice could be overcome. Please, don't leave here before you've asked yourselves, in all sincerity: Who of you would give, not his whole life, but a year or even just one day, for an ideal, the way that Che gave all he had?". Many in the audience walk out and Valentín comments: "But just like my uncle said, the priest couldn't change anything. Everything stayed the same".
Leticia (Julieta Cardinali), his father's latest romantic interest, pays a visit and both she and Valentin spend the day together going to the park, seeing a movie and sharing a meal. Valentín tells her personal things about his life and father. Due to Valentín's tales about his family, Leticia rethinks her relationship with his father and breaks up with him. His father is quite upset and blames Valentín.
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