20th Anniversary Edition – Core Programme

TRATAMOS DEMASIADO BIEN A LAS MUJERES

We Treat Women Too Well
Riverside Studios

UK premiere

£13, conc. £11

Followed by a Q&A with the director and film critic and author Dr. Mar Diestro-Dópido

dir. Clara Bilbao
with Carmen Machi, Antonio de la Torre, Julián Villagrán, Isak Férriz, Oscar Ladoire, Ayax Pedrosa

Spain/France | 2024 | 96 min | cert. 15
In Spanish with English subtitles

Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War’s end, this film is an adaptation of Raymond Queneau’s 1947 pulp novel We Always Treat Women Too Well. A compelling Carmen Machi plays an ultra-fascist, borderline psychopath, who is to marry a fascist comander. On her own she will manage to achieve the bloody elimination of a group of uncoordinated and naive Republican soldiers who have occupied the local post office of the small town. She will achieve this partly exploiting male sexual desire and their idea of a woman’s fragility. Best known as a costume designer, Clara Bilbao’s debut film is a very dark comedy but also a powerful and daring anti-war satire.