Luis García Berlanga was well known by his films and by his love for eroticism. He was director of the collection of erotic literature “La Sonrisa Vertical” (The Vertical Smile) since its creation in Tusquets publishing house, along with the subsequent award for erotic literature of the same name.
This month, here at the library we would like to invite our readers to get to know this literary genre, in honour of Berlanga, and, it goes without saying, revisit his body of films, which will also feature in a film cycle dedicated to the director in the new year, organised by Instituto Cervantes Dublin.
Luis García Berlanga falleció en Madrid el pasado 13 de noviembre a la edad de 89 años. Sus películas forman parte ya de la historia de España y del cine mundial. Quizás la más conocida sea “Bienvenido Mr. Marshall”.
No menos conocido que su cine era su afición al erotismo. Él fue director, desde su creación en la editorial Tusquets, de la colección de literatura erótica “La Sonrisa Vertical” y del premio de literatura erótica de este mismo nombre.
Este mes, la biblioteca propone a sus lectores un acercamiento a este género literario, en honor a Berlanga, y como no, un repaso a su filmografía, que también será recordada a comienzos del año próximo, en un ciclo de cine organizado por el Instituto Cervantes de Dublín.
During the Franco years, the survival of independent cinema in Spain was thanks to the “Three Bs” — Luis Buñuel, Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga. The last of these irreverent, original film-makers, who has died aged 89, Berlanga was pivotal in reviving the Spanish film industry after the end of the civil war, despite his many tussles with Franco’s censors.
In 1953 he established himself with ¡Bienvenido, Mister Marshall! (Welcome, Mr Marshall!), a masterful comedy about the hopes of Spanish villagers that the Marshall Plan will make them rich.
Nick Caistor