Love & Revolution
Love & Revolution is a 2023 Spanish historical comedy-drama film directed by Alejandro Marín starring Ana Wagener and Omar Banana alongside Alba Flores.
Plot
Set in 1977 Seville, at a time homosexuality was a crime in Spain, against the backdrop of the struggle against the repressive Law on social dangerousness and rehabilitation, the plot follows Reme and her son Miguel who become acquainted with the budding Andalusian LGBTI movement.Production
The plot is inspired by the genesis of the Movimiento Homosexual de Acción Revolucionaria led by trans activist Mar Cambrollé. Love & Revolution had British social comedy films such as Billy Elliot and Pride as references.The film is an Escándalo Films, Escac Estudio, Zeta Cinema, Zeta Audiovisual, La Pepa Films and Te estoy amando AIE production. It was participated by RTVE, Movistar Plus+, Netflix, Canal Sur Radio y Televisión and Crea SGR. It also had backing and funding from ICAA, ICEC, ICO, Mogambo, and Triodos Bank. Shooting locations included Barcelona and Seville.
Rigoberta Bandini composed the song "Yo solo quiero amor" for the film score.
Release
Distributed by Filmax, the film was released theatrically on 6 July 2023 in 109 Spanish screens following a rather muted promotional campaign. The film underperformed at the box office in the first two days, grossing €67,000. After three weeks, it had grossed €274,415.Reception
Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas rated the film with 75 points highlighting the "luminous" character of the film, "featuring an encouraging message".Ricardo Rosado of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting Banana's arrival to big screen as the best thing about the film.
Miguel Ángel Romero of Cinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, underscoring it to be the Spanish version of Pride, making the LGTBI collective's struggle visible.
Javier Ocaña of El País deemed the "thrilling melodrama" to be an "inspirational film, very well produced and even better acted, in which there is hardly a blur", otherwise noting a potentially surprising feature of the film being the "total absence of sex".