Nine Letters to Berta

Nine Letters to Berta (Spanish: Nueve cartas a Berta) is a 1966 Spanish drama film written and directed by Basilio Martín Patino which stars Mari Carrillo, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, and Antonio Casas. It is widely acknowledged as a hallmark title of the so-called Nuevo Cine Español.^[1]

Nine Letters to Berta
Theatrical release poster
Spanish	Nueve cartas a Berta
Directed by	Basilio Martín Patino
Screenplay by	Basilio Martín Patino
Starring	Mari Carrillo Emilio G. Caba Antonio Casas
Cinematography	Luis Enrique Torán
Edited by	Pedro del Rey
Music by	Carmelo Bernaola
Production companies	Eco Films Transfisa
Distributed by	Hispano Fox-Film
Release dates	June 1966 (1966-06) (SSIFF) 27 February 1967 (1967-02-27) (Spain)
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

Plot

In the 1950s,^[2] Lorenzo Carvajal, son to a former Francoist combatant now working in a bank and a pious housewife, returns to Salamanca from a spell in England. He writes love letters to a woman he met in England, Berta Carballeira (never featured onscreen), the daughter of a Spanish exile, also detailing the sense of weariness he experiences back in his native city, as he feels stranged from his family, local girlfriend, and friends.^[3][4][5][6]

Cast

• Emilio G. Caba as el hijo (Lorenzo)^[2]
• Mari Carrillo as la madre^[2]
• Elsa Baeza [es] as la novia (Mari Tere)^[2][7]
• Lepe [es] as el tío farmacéutico^[2]
• Nicolás Perchicot [es] as el viejo profesor^[2]
• José M.ª Resel as Benito^[2]
• Yelena Samarina as Trini^[2]
• Miguel Palenzuela [es] as Astudillo^[2]
• Iván Tubau [es] as el amigo extranjero (Jacques)^[2]
• Antonio Casas as el padre^[2]

Production

The film is an Eco Films and Transcontinental Films Española (Transfisa) production.^[8] Shooting locations included Madrid and Salamanca.^[8]

Release

The film was presented at the 14th San Sebastián International Film Festival in June 1966.^[9] It was released theatrically in Spain on 27 February 1967.^[10] 417,965 tickets were sold, with the film proving to be a blockbuster relative to comparable Nuevo Cine Español titles.^[11]

See also

• List of Spanish films of 1967

References

1. Faulkner, Sally (2006). "Identity and Nationality in Basilio Martín Patino's Nueve cartas a Berta (1965)". Bulletin of Spanish Studies. 83 (3): 409–423. doi:10.1080/147538206000346261. ISSN 1475-3820. S2CID 192014733.
2. "Nueve cartas a Berta" (PDF). Retrieved 26 February 2023 – via Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte.
3. Pérez 2017, p. 156.
4. Pérez Millán, Juan Antonio (January 2011). "Salamanca en el cine de Basilio Martín Patino. De Nueve cartas a Berta (1965) a Octavia (2002)". Guzmán Gombau fotografía el VII centenario de la Universidad de Salamanca (1953-1954): liberalización cultural y apertura internacional de la universidad franquista. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-8478001422.
5. González, Fernando (2000). "Exilio, identidad, historia, forma fílmica. La guerre est finie, Nueve cartas a Berta" (PDF). Film-Historia. 10 (3): 29–43.
6. Keller, Patricia (2013). "Letters from The City: Writing Boundaries in Nueve cartas a Berta (1965)". Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 90 (8): 945–964. doi:10.3828/bhs.2013.57.
7. Bentley, Bernard P. E. (2008). A Companion to Spanish Cinema. Tamesis. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-85566-176-9.
8. "Nueve cartas a Berta". Madrid Film Office. Madrid Destino Cultura Turismo y Negocio S.A. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
9. García-Defez 2019, p. 200.
10. García-Defez, Olga (2019). "De Inglaterra a Salamanca: espacio y memoria en Nueve cartas a Berta (Basilio Martín Patino, 1967)" (PDF). Salamanca. Revista de Estudios. 63: 200. ISSN 0212-7105.
11. Pérez, Jorge (2017). Confessional Cinema: Religion, Film, and Modernity in Spain's Development Years, 1960–1975. University of Toronto Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-4875-0108-2.