Amor idiota (Idiot Love)

Adapting a novel by Lluis-Anton Baulenas, whose Anita Takes a Chance was previously adapted by Pons, Idiot Love begins as Pere-Lluc drowns his sorrow with alcohol after learning of the death of a close friend in Buenos Aires. Wandering home after his bender, he slams into a ladder being used by a young woman hanging banners on the street. When he attempts to wake up from his stupor, all he can see is the woman. Mesmerized, he claims he’s in love with her and sets out to win her affection— even though she’s married. Pons’s films have always had an anarchic undercurrent— a sense that at any moment his characters could just abandon everything — but Idiot Love is by far his fullest exploration of this theme. His energy and humor have a harsher edge than in his earlier work, aided by the excellent performances he gets from his two leads, Santi Millán and Cayetana Guillén Cuervo.