Eclipse Series 6: Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)

One of the great auteurs of Spanish cinema, Carlos Saura brought international audiences closer to the art of his country's dance than any other filmmaker, before or since. Collaborating with producer Emiliano Piedra, cinematographer Teodoro Escamilla, and choreographer Antonio Gades, Saura merged his passion for music with his ongoing exploration of Spanish national identity in his acclaimed Flamenco Trilogy: Blood Wedding, Carmen, and El Amor Brujo.

In the wake of Criterion's release of Saura's haunting Franco-era allegory, Cría Cuervos, the Flamenco Trilogy showcases thrilling physicality and electrifying cinematography and editing, serving as colorful paeans to bodies in motion and the cinema that so eloquently and artfully captured them.

Blood Wedding (1981) starts like one of Robert Altman's behind-the-scenes efforts, as Saura captures every backstage detail, from the bickering of the musicians to the mementos the dancers scatter about their stations. The action culminates in a dress rehearsal of Alfredo Manas's flamenco-ballet version of Federico García Lorca's play, where the Bride (Cristina Hoyos) runs off with Leonardo (Gades), a married man, on the day of her betrothal, leading the Groom (Juan Antonio Jiménez) to set out to avenge the family name.

In Carmen (1983), Saura's biggest international hit, fiction bleeds into fact as the performers incarnate their parts. The narrative begins with Gades's search for a dancer to play the tragic heroine, which he finds in the headstrong Carmen (Laura del Sol), with whom he embarks on an affair. Instead of a full-length performance, Carmen proceeds through a series of rehearsals and offstage encounters, as the more time Gades spends with his leading lady, the more possessive he becomes, until he solves their problem – permanently.

Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo (1986) opens on a stage set made up like a gypsy village, where two men agree that their children, José and Candela, will marry when they are grown. Though José is killed in a knife fight, Candela continues to dance with his ghost, remaining blind to Carmelo's (Gades) devotion to her. Of the trilogy, El Amor Brujo features the least dancing, making it less satisfying, but just as passionate and more optimistic than its tragic predecessors.

For aficionados of dance on film, Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy belongs on the shelf with The Red Shoes and West Side Story. Saura followed up with the related documentaries Sevillanas (1992) and Flamenco (1995), which would have rounded out this set nicely. As with the other entries in Criterion's Eclipse Series, this collection may be devoid of extras, but it still represents one of the best deals around.

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