Death of a Cyclist (1955) [The Criterion Collection #427] [Re-UP]

An adulterous couple is forced to take responsibility for their actions in this tense drama from Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bardem. Maria Jose (Lucia Bose) is a beautiful woman whose husband Miguel (Otello Toso) is a wealthy and powerful businessman. Juan (Alberto Closas) is a mathematics instructor at a Spanish college who is distantly related to Miguel, and owes his position to Miguel's influence. Juan was also Maria Jose's boyfriend when they were younger, and now they're carrying on an affair behind Miguel's back. One night, while driving home from an assignation, Juan and Maria Jose accidentally run over a man on a bicycle; the stranger quickly dies, and the lovers speed away rather than deal with the consequences. But over the next few days, Juan's conscience begins to bother him, and finds it hard to bear the knowledge that he took another man's life. Maria Jose is also troubled, but for different reasons; Rafa (Carlos Casaravilla), a devious socialite, infers to Maria Jose that he knows about her secret life, but she's not certain he he's just speaking about her infidelity or her role in the cyclist's death. A major critical success in Spain, Muerte de un Ciclista (aka Death Of A Cyclist) was released in Europe in 1955, the same year director Bardem published a controversial essay on the decline in Spanish cinema under the rule of Franco.

Mark Deming, Rovi

Juan Antonio Bardem's "Muerte de un ciclista" was discovered in a Cannes Film festival where it received the International Critics' Award, where it was shown out of competition. Spain was living the years after the Civil War under the Franco regime. The Catholic church dominated everything in the country. It was indeed a miracle the film even was screened! The film aroused curiosity because of the way it was received outside the country. The censure deemed it a "gravely dangerous" film, thus limiting a possible audience.

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Mr. Bardem was part of a Communist minority that didn't leave the country after Franco came into power. He, and several other film makers decided to stay and make films in which a lot of symbolism was insinuated in the stories they presented. The director despised the Spanish bourgeoisie, who supported Franco in order to justify their excesses. This film came out of an impoverished Spain in which one notices the contrasts between the classes immediately.

Maria Jose, the beautiful society matron, and Juan, a man from a good family, but who hasn't amount to anything, were having an affair. As the story opens, we watch the car where they are traveling during a rainy and overcast day on a lonely stretch of a country road. Maria Jose, who is driving her car, accidentally hits the cyclist. Juan gets out of the car to see the condition of the cyclist. Noticing he is in bad shape, he tells Maria Jose, who is horrified. She prefers to leave the man on the road to fend for himself as they flee the scene of the crime.

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The accident is a catalyst in their illicit relationship. Maria Jose cares more about her good name and her status in society and what it will do to her and her husband. Juan, on the other hand, struggles with his own conscience. To make matters worse, Juan, a university professor makes the mistake of shutting up one of his female students who is working a math problem. Maria Jose's life takes a turn when Rafa, a critic that moves in her circle, insinuates he knows about her affair, without coming out in the open.

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Their guilt play tricks on the lovers. Their love suddenly is challenged by Rafa, who is a dangerous man. Rafa will stop at nothing in his desire for Maria Jose as it appears he will try to black mail her at all costs. Jose, who can't live with his conscience anymore decides to turn himself in. Maria Jose will not let him; she will do anything to stop him, even hitting him deliberately with her own car. Maria Jose, in her frenzied state, almost hits another cyclist, in avoiding hitting the man, she ends up going off the bridge.

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Mr. Bardem, who contributed to the screen play of the film with Luis Fernando de Igoa, wanted to show the hypocrisy of the upper classes in their collaboration with Franco. He also pointed out to the nepotism that was rampant during those years the way that Juan gains a position thanks to his influential brother. Matilde, the young female student, and her class mates at the university, point out to the new type of citizen that would question the system under Franco.

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The sublime Lucia Bose, one of the most beautiful faces in the Italian cinema of the years after WWII, is one of the best things in the film. She is equally matched by Alberto Closas, who gives his Juan the right tone for his character. Carlos Casaravilla, makes a wonderful villain, Rafa, the man who is a parasite and envies the moneyed types that tolerate him and use him. Bruna Corra, who is seen as Matilde, has some good opportunities.

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The black and white cinematography by Alfredo Fraile shows us the Spain of the 1950s that evokes some of the best Italian masters of the era. Isidro Maiztegui's musical score works well with the film. Ultimately this film stands together with another Juan Antonio Bardem's masterpiece, "Calle Mayor", as two of the most important works of the Spanish cinema, bar none, an achievement if considered the times in which they were done.

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Death of a Cyclist (1955) [The Criterion Collection #427] [Re-UP]

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Death of a Cyclist (1955) [The Criterion Collection #427] [Re-UP]

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Disc Features:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Calle Bardem (2005), a documentary on the revolutionary life and career of director Juan Antonio Bardem
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by scholar Marsha Kinder and Bardem’s 1955 call to arms for Spanish cinema