Cast

1895: Raquel Revuelta, Eduardo Mouré

1932: Eslinda Núñez

196..: Adela Legra, Adolfo Llaurado, Idalia Andreus (playing Fernandina),

Hermina Sánchez, Silvia Planas, Flora Lauten, María Elena Molinet, Rogelio Blain, Tete Vergara, Flavo Claderín, Aramais Delgado

Also Featuring

Ingrid González, Fernando González, Isabel Moreno, Piedad Zurbanán, Carmelina García, Antonio Cruz, Rafael González, Nancy Rodríguez, Julio Prieto, Farida Hernández, Eulalia Falcón, Aída Busto, Raul Eguren, Amelita Pita, Jesús Hernández, Alicia Agramonte, Olga González, Marta Llovío, Celia Quiñones, Elsa Cárdenas, Eva Pedroso, Aída Conde, Elisa Valdés, Mireyra Bello, Marta Valdés

Crew

Scenography: Pedro García Espinosa, Roberto Miqueli

Construction Manager: Eduardo Lawrence

Dress Designer: María Elena Molinet

Clothes: Carmelina García

Make-up: Magaly Pompa

Set: Pedro Horta

Sound: Eugenio Vesa, Carlos Fernández, Ricardo Istueta

Musical Composer: Leo Brouwer, Joseíto Fernández

Musical Director: Manuel Duchesne Cuzán

Musical recording: Adalberto Jiménez, Egrem Studios

Producers: Raúl Canosa, Camilo Vives

Script: Humberto Solás, Julio García Espinosa, Nelson Rodríguez

Editing: Nelson Rodríguez

Camera: Pablo Martínez, Alberto Menéndez

Effects: Ricardo Suárez

Lights: Rafael González

Photography: Jorge Herrera

Director’s Assistants: Inger Seeland, María Ramírez, José G. Aguilar

Director: Humberto Solás

Awards

First Prize, Golden Medal, International Film Festival, Moscow, 1968

Critics’ Prize, Havana Film Festival, 1968

Selected for Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes International Film Festival, 1969

Honourable Mention, III Meeting of Iberoamerican Film, Barcelona, 1968

Plot

The film consists of three parts, each featuring the trials and tribulations of a woman called Lucía, the first set in 1895, the second in 1932, and the third sometime in the 1960s. Part I opens with a nineteenth-century street scene in which the well-to-do are out walking in their finery. Lucía arrives with her mother in a coach. As they go into church, Lucía brushes shoulders with a handsome man. The women are seen at home, embroidering and sewing in support of the War of Independence currently being waged. A Spanish general arrives – bringing his spoils of war with him – and insults the Cuban people. A mad woman, La Fernandina, starts laughing madly as she sees the dead bodies arrive. Rafaela, Lucía’s sister, tells the story of La Fernandina, who used to be a nun until she went mad when raped by some soldiers on the battlefield. Rafael talks to Lucía, expresses his love for her, and is then seen at lunch with Lucía’s family, explaining that he is half-Spanish half-Cuban. Lucía’s brother, Felipe, who is fighting against the Spanish, arrives for a brief visit.