The Queen of Spain
The Queen of Spain is a 2016 Spanish comedy-drama film written and directed by Fernando Trueba. Starring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Resines, Neus Asensi, Ana Belén, Javier Cámara, Chino Darín, Loles León, Arturo Ripstein, Jorge Sanz, Rosa Maria Sardà, Santiago Segura, Clive Revill, Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin, it was shown in the Berlinale Special section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
The film is a sequel to Trueba's 1998 drama The Girl of Your Dreams with Cruz, Resines, Asensi, León, Sanz, Sardà and Segura reprising their roles from the previous film.
It was nominated for 5 Goya Awards at the 31st Goya Awards, without winning any, including the nomination for Cruz as Best Actress for the same role for which she had won the Best Actress Award at the 13th Goya Awards, making her the first actress to be nominated twice for the same role in two different films.
Plot
Nearly twenty years after the events of The Girl of Your Dreams, the story follows Macarena Granada, now a successful Hollywood star in the 1950s. She returns to Francoist Spain to film a big-budget historical epic about Queen Isabella I, financed by an American studio. The production, led by "legendary" director John Scott, starring Gary Jones and produced by Jordan Berman, is meant as to promote a better image for Francoist Spain.Spanish film director Blas, who was Granada's love interest in Girl, is now imprisoned by Franco's government for his past political activities. Determined to rescue him, Macarena and the film crew devise an elaborate plan to break Blas out of jail, using the Hollywood production as cover for their scheme.
During the filming of a ballroom scene at a royal palace the crew executes a prison break that outwits the authorities.
Blas is freed. Macarena discards the threats of Franco himself, who visits the set. She reconciles with her past and her Spanish roots, and completes the film.