Peppermint Frappé

Julián is a middle-aged single doctor; he lives in the provinces, keeps an orderly life, and does not notice his assistant Ana. His childhood friend Pablo comes to visit with his new wife Elena. Elena is young, blonde, and represents everything Julián does not have. He develops an obsession with her. Then he begins making Ana resemble Elena: changing her hair, choosing her clothes, correcting her manner. Carlos Saura tells the repression of Franco's Spain through sexual obsession. The narrative does not talk politics directly, but everything Julián suppresses is the product of the moral order of the time. Saura dedicated the film to Luis Buñuel. Geraldine Chaplin plays both Elena and Ana. The film won the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival in 1968. Who it's for: Viewers who like Spanish cinema, Saura, and psychological thrillers. Who it's not for: The narrative is slow and symbolic. That the women are constructed entirely through the man's gaze is also uncomfortable, though the film does that deliberately.