Golden Balls

Overview:

A libidinous construction worker uses his charm and bravado in an attempt to attain enough finances to build his dream project.

Director:

Bigas Luna

Status:

Released

Language:

Spanish

Buget:

$3,450,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

infidelity
banker
prostitute
dreams
corruption
orgy
architect
money
tragedy
model
construction
disco
voyeurism

Cast

Javier Bardem

~ as ~

Benito González

Maria de Medeiros

~ as ~

Marta (La mujer, 45 kilos)

Maribel Verdú

~ as ~

Claudia (La amante, 52 kilos)

Elisa Tovati

~ as ~

Rita (El primer amor, 47 kilos)

Benicio del Toro

~ as ~

Bob, el amigo de Miami

Alessandro Gassmann

~ as ~

Miguel, el amigo de Melilla

Ángel de Andrés López

~ as ~

Gil, el de los garbanzos

Alicia Moro

~ as ~

La chica de Gil

Raquel Bianca

~ as ~

Ana (La comehombres, ? kilos)

Albert Vidal

~ as ~

El suegro

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

C
CRCulver
Written 6 year(s) ago
6
Bigas Luna's 1993 film Huevos de oro ("Golden Balls/Eggs", a title punning on both the goose that laid the golden eggs and a tough guy's balls of steel) depicts the rise and fall of Benito Gonzalez (Javier Bardem), a young Spanish construction worker who becomes an affluent real estate developer on the Mediterranean coast.

After being jilted by his first girlfriend (Elisa Tovati), who leaves him for his best friend, Benito develops a mania for building the tallest building in Benidorm, which may be seen as little more than an enormous phallic symbol flaunting his manhood. Obsessed with this big construction project, his lust for his next woman, Claudia (Maribel Verdú) takes second place to having her sleep with potential investors to win them over. Benito then marries a banker's daughter, Marta (Maria de Medeiros) to have access to her father's funds. Benito lives a life of sexual excess and enormous consumption of food, especially the Alicante sweet known as torrón. Like some of the work of Almodovar, Bigas Luna clearly likes riffing on Spanish stereotypes and regional differences.

Ultimately, however, Benito's hubris leads to his downfall. This protagonist is certainly an odious guy, but -- though I won't spoil the ending -- the depths to which he is ultimately sunk inspire a perverse sympathy in the viewer. Years went by between my first viewing of this film and the second, but in the interim I would often look back on this film's plot and ending scenes, thinking of how sad it was to lose everything and end up that way.

Huevos de oro isn't an especially deep film, but that dramatic arc, hewing very close to classical notions of tragedy, is impressive and I'd say this film is worth a watch.