# Amantes
**Amantes** (English release title *Lovers: A True Story*) is a 1991 Spanish drama film directed by Vicente Aranda, starring Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz, and [Maribel Verdú](https://www.edgepedia.org/maribel-verdu) in a love triangle that ends in a crime.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) It is based on a real murder case from 1940s Madrid known as El crimen de la calle Tetuán, and it won the Goya Awards for Best Film and Best Director as well as the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 1991 [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival).[2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) • [3](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and cast | Vicente Aranda; Victoria Abril (Luisa), Jorge Sanz (Paco), Maribel Verdú (Trini)[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) • [4](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/1241472/) |
| Basis | The real case of "los amantes de Tetuán de las Victorias", a crime that occurred in Madrid in 1949, relocated on screen to the 1950s[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html) • [2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) |
| Screenplay | Álvaro del Amo, Carlos Pérez Merinero, and Vicente Aranda[6](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201990-1991.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2) |
| Awards | Goya 1991: Best Film and Best Director, from seven nominations; Berlin 1991: Silver Bear for Best Actress (Victoria Abril)[3](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/) • [1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) |
| Spanish box office | 1,724,153.56 euros from 697,496 admissions[7](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990) |
| Spanish rating | Not recommended for audiences under 18[7](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990) |
| Production | Pedro Costa Producciones Cinematográficas and Televisión Española; 35 mm color[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and real-life basis
The story is set in Madrid in 1955. Paco, a young man who has just finished his military service, decides to stay in the capital rather than return to his home town, planning to find work and marry his girlfriend Trini.[8](https://madridfilmoffice.com/produccion/amantes/) • [6](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201990-1991.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2) He rents a room in the home of Luisa, a young widow, who initiates him into sexual pleasure and draws him into her shady dealings.[6](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201990-1991.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2) Obsessed with his mistress, Paco drifts away from his fiancée and must choose between the two women; the triangle has no future, and the story ends with a crime that leaves one victim and two murderers.[8](https://madridfilmoffice.com/produccion/amantes/) • [6](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201990-1991.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2)
The film is based on a real case known as El crimen de la calle Tetuán, after the Madrid neighborhood where the events began, although the real crime's fatal outcome took place in Burgos.[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html) Aranda said the actual events occurred in 1949 but that he set the film in the mid-1950s because the background he wanted was not the postwar period itself but a love story that could happen at any time.[2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) He described the three protagonists as ordinary people swept up by a passion they do not understand, and summarized the ending plainly: "as someone is in the way, the crime arrives".[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html) • [2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html)
## From television project to feature film
**Television origin.** The project began inside *La huella del crimen*, a television series about Spanish crimes that producer Pedro Costa created for Televisión Española out of his own interest as a former journalist in real criminal cases.[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html) Aranda, who had already directed one episode of the first series (*El crimen del capitán Sánchez*), was asked to adapt the Tetuán street case for the second series.[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html) He chose a story with a clear-cut murder, and as the material grew during preparation he decided it had enough dramatic substance to become a feature film rather than a single episode, so it was detached from the series.[2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) • [5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html)
The screenplay started from a script by Álvaro del Amo and Carlos Pérez Merinero that Aranda then reworked extensively; the final credits name all three.[2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) Filming took place on interior and exterior locations in Madrid and Burgos, and the ICAA catalog also records [Guadalajara](https://www.edgepedia.org/guadalajara) among the shooting locations.[2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) • [8](https://madridfilmoffice.com/produccion/amantes/) The crew included the cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, the composer José Nieto, and the editor Teresa Font.[6](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201990-1991.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2)
Aranda cast the three leads, Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz, and Maribel Verdú, shortly after they had worked together on his television series *Los jinetes del Alba*, citing his "intellectual understanding with the actors".[2](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html) Casting almost went differently: according to a later [El País](https://www.edgepedia.org/el-pais) profile, Abril was originally assigned the role that Maribel Verdú ended up playing, with actresses such as Isabel Maura or Concha Velasco considered for Luisa.[9](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-07-14/el-enigma-victoria-abril-por-que-espana-no-supo-que-hacer-con-la-mejor-actriz-de-su-generacion.html)
## Release and reception
The film was selected for the official competition of the Berlin International Film Festival, held 15 to 24 February 1991, with its world premiere there on 23 February.[10](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/01/18/cultura/664153208_850215.html) • [4](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/1241472/) In Spain it was certified and released in 1991 with the rating "not recommended for audiences under 18"; the ICAA file records a release date of 07/03/1991, while SensaCine and IMDb list the Spanish cinema release as 12 April 1991.[7](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990) • [1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) • [3](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/) It drew 697,496 Spanish admissions and grossed 1,724,153.56 euros.[7](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990)
In Berlin the film entered jury discussions from the start; in early voting it reportedly stood second, behind Marco Ferreri's *La casa del sorriso*, which took the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear).[11](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/04/08/cultura/671061601_850215.html) Some German newspapers attacked the film as immoral and close to pornography, a reaction the critic Ángel Fernández-Santos dismissed, describing the erotic explicitness as fleeting and elliptical.[11](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/04/08/cultura/671061601_850215.html) The erotic sequences also provoked audiences elsewhere: Aranda later noted that some New York moviegoers were scandalized to the point of asking for the film's withdrawal from theaters, answering them with the line "love, or it is passion, or it is nothing".[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html)
Spanish critics treated the film as a landmark of its decade. SensaCine's review calls it one of the masterpieces of recent Spanish cinema and reads it as a dark portrait of the grayness of the Franco era, carried by a solid script, the three lead performances, and Alcaine's cinematography.[12](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/sensacine/) The film also continued Aranda's 1980s line of work examining recent Spanish history through intrigue and crime, following *Tiempo de silencio*, the two *El Lute* films, and *Los jinetes del Alba*.[12](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/sensacine/)
## Awards
At the VI Goya Awards (1991) the film received seven nominations and won the two leading categories, Best Film and Best Director.[3](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/) At the 1991 Berlinale, Victoria Abril won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) The film also received the Fotogramas and Ondas awards in Spain, a best-director prize at the Chicago festival, and a best-film prize at the Mysfest, among other honors.[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html)
## Versions and legacy
Reported running times differ by source and version: the ICAA file lists 94 minutes for the certified feature with an original length of 107 minutes, the Italian censorship commission lists 107 minutes, Eye Filmmuseum lists 103 minutes, and the 2021 Divisa Blu-ray release runs longer as a collector's edition.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true) • [13](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/amantes-amanti/) • [14](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/amantes/264613) • [15](https://rebiun.baratz.es/OpacDiscovery/public/catalog/detail/pdf?detailId=b2FpOmNlbGVicmF0aW9uOmVzLmJhcmF0ei5yZW4vMzYwMzk1ODk) The film has been issued internationally under many titles, including *Lovers: A True Story* in English-speaking markets.[4](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/1241472/) For Aranda, who was born in Barcelona in 1926 and died in 2015, *Amantes* is generally regarded as the greatest commercial and critical triumph of his career.[16](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/05/26/vicente-aranda-el-director-de-las-escenas-de-sexo-mas-osadas-del-cine-espanol-cadena-ser/)
## References
1. [AMANTES, ICAA Catálogo de Películas, expediente 6990](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990&q=true)
2. [Diego Muñoz, "Vicente Aranda convierte en 'Amantes' a Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz y Maribel Verdú", El País, 24 December 1990](https://elpais.com/diario/1990/12/24/cultura/661993206_850215.html)
3. [Amantes (1991), SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/)
4. [Lovers (1991), Kinoafisha](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/1241472/)
5. [Diego Galán, "Las sórdidas huellas de un crimen", El País, 14 June 2003](https://elpais.com/diario/2003/06/14/espectaculos/1055541602_850215.html)
6. [Amantes entry, Catalan films & television 1990-1991 (Generalitat de Catalunya)](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201990-1991.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2)
7. [AMANTES, ICAA Film Database (English), expediente 6990](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=6990)
8. [Amantes, Madrid Film Office](https://madridfilmoffice.com/produccion/amantes/)
9. ["El enigma Victoria Abril", El País Icon, 14 July 2026](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-07-14/el-enigma-victoria-abril-por-que-espana-no-supo-que-hacer-con-la-mejor-actriz-de-su-generacion.html)
10. ["'Amantes', de Aranda, irá al Festival de Cine de Berlín", El País, 18 January 1991](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/01/18/cultura/664153208_850215.html)
11. [Ángel Fernández-Santos, "Triángulo negro", El País, 8 April 1991](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/04/08/cultura/671061601_850215.html)
12. [Amantes - La Crítica, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-7915/sensacine/)
13. [AMANTES (AMANTI), Commissione Nazionale Valutazione Film](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/amantes-amanti/)
14. [Amantes, Eye Filmmuseum](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/amantes/264613)
15. [Amantes Blu-ray (Divisa, 2021), REBIUN catalog record](https://rebiun.baratz.es/OpacDiscovery/public/catalog/detail/pdf?detailId=b2FpOmNlbGVicmF0aW9uOmVzLmJhcmF0ei5yZW4vMzYwMzk1ODk)
16. ["Vicente Aranda, el director de las escenas de sexo más osadas del cine español", Cadena SER, 26 May 2025](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/05/26/vicente-aranda-el-director-de-las-escenas-de-sexo-mas-osadas-del-cine-espanol-cadena-ser/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Erotic thrillers and dramas*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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