# Jamón Jamón
**Jamón, jamón** is a 1992 Spanish comedy-drama written and directed by Bigas Luna (José Juan Bigas Luna), in which the pleasures of sex and food entwine in a darkly surreal romance set around an underwear factory and a ham warehouse in rural Aragon[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791) • [2](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2316). It was the first film of what critics call the Iberian trilogy, followed by *Huevos de oro* (1993) and *La teta y la luna* (1994)[3](https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/comunicacion/article/view/925), and it simultaneously launched the film careers of [Penélope Cruz](https://www.edgepedia.org/penelope-cruz) and [Javier Bardem](https://www.edgepedia.org/javier-bardem)[4](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/bigas-luna-director-best-known-for-his-surrealist-melodrama-jamon-jamon-8640132.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and year | Bigas Luna, 1992; produced by Andrés Vicente Gómez for Lola 2002, S.L.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791) |
| Spanish release | 2 September 1992; 673,563 spectators and €1,809,160.97 in receipts[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791) |
| Principal cast | Penélope Cruz (Silvia), Javier Bardem (Raúl), Jordi Mollà (José Luis), Stefania Sandrelli (Conchita), Anna Galiena (Carmen), Juan Diego (Manuel)[2](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2316) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt0104545/fullcredits/) |
| Award | Silver Lion at the 1992 Venice Film Festival, one of three awarded that year[6](https://elpais.com/diario/1992/09/13/cultura/716335203_850215.html) |
| Rating and length | Not recommended for viewers under 18; 110 minutes in theatrical release, 95 minutes in video versions[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791) |
| Key crew | Screenplay Cuca Canals and Bigas Luna with additional dialogue by Quim Monzó; cinematography José Luis Alcaine; music Nicola Piovani; editing Teresa Font[7](https://www.filmoteca.org/pelicula-jamon-jamon.htm) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Silvia, the daughter of a prostitute who runs a brothel, works cutting fabric in the underwear factory of the wealthy couple Conchita and Manuel and is having a relationship with their son José Luis. When Silvia becomes pregnant, José Luis promises to marry her against his parents' wishes. To stop the wedding, Conchita hires Raúl, a young man who works in the ham warehouse of Los Conquistadores and wants to be a bullfighter, to seduce her; Raúl instead falls in love with Silvia[8](https://tv.apple.com/es/movie/jamon-jamon/umc.cmc.6nul0klvz7ml9pvre0o1s1dek) • [9](https://amcchannels.es/programa/jamon-jamon/). Janus Films, which distributes the restored film in the United States, describes the result as a wickedly seductive, darkly surreal romance in which Conchita herself falls for the ham delivery man[2](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2316).
The credits give the characters ironic epithets: Stefania Sandrelli plays "la madre puta", Anna Galiena "la puta madre", Penélope Cruz "la hija de puta", Javier Bardem "el chorizo", and Jordi Mollà "el niñato"[5](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt0104545/fullcredits/).
## Production and release
The film was shot in 35 mm Eastmancolor in the Aragonese steppe and nearby locations: Los Monegros and Monegrillo in Zaragoza, Candasnos and Peñalba in Huesca, and Villamayor in [Salamanca](https://www.edgepedia.org/salamanca)[7](https://www.filmoteca.org/pelicula-jamon-jamon.htm). Bardem later recalled the shoot as delicate and physically hard, with the young cast working in severe cold in the Monegros desert[10](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-250010/secretos/).
The Spanish classification board rated it not recommended for viewers under 18 on 21 July 1992, and it opened in Spain on 2 September 1992[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791). It drew 673,563 Spanish spectators and earned €1,809,160.97[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791), a commercial success at home and abroad[3](https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/comunicacion/article/view/925).
## Reception and awards
At the 1992 [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival), the jury presided over by [Dennis Hopper](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-hopper) gave the [Golden Lion](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-lion) to Zhang Yimou's *The Story of Qiu Ju*; *Jamón, jamón* received one of the three Silver Lions, alongside Claude Sautet's *A Heart in Winter* and Dan Pița's *Hotel de lux*[6](https://elpais.com/diario/1992/09/13/cultura/716335203_850215.html). The film then collected Spanish recognition: Bardem won the Cinema Writers Circle award for Best Actor and the Sant Jordi Award for Best Spanish Actor in 1993, and the film received Goya nominations for Best Director (Bigas Luna), Best Actress (Cruz), Best Actor (Bardem), and Best Original Screenplay (Cuca Canals and Bigas Luna)[9](https://amcchannels.es/programa/jamon-jamon/) • [11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104545/awards/).
Critical standing has grown with time. A 2019 academic study concluded that the film, like the rest of the trilogy, had more national impact as the years passed than at its release[12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/88819/files/TAZ-TFG-2019-4335.pdf). In 2025 a jury of 53 cultural journalists convened by *El País* placed it 33rd in a list of the 50 best Spanish films of the half century since Franco's death, with critic Jordi Costa writing that if Freud had put the Spanish macho goat on the couch, the result would look like *Jamón, jamón*[13](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-05-10/las-50-mejores-peliculas-espanolas-del-ultimo-medio-siglo.html).
## The Iberian trilogy and legacy
*Jamón, jamón* opened the trilogy that critics call Iberian or Mediterranean, followed by *Huevos de oro* (1993), a critique of real-estate speculation on the Benidorm coast, and *La teta y la luna* (1994), a portrait of Catalan society[3](https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/comunicacion/article/view/925) • [12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/88819/files/TAZ-TFG-2019-4335.pdf). Of all Bigas Luna's work, the trilogy and *Jamón, jamón* in particular have attracted the most academic attention, much of it focused on the film's playful staging of Iberian masculinities[14](https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/1684997).
The film's most durable legacy is personal. Cruz and Bardem met at its costume fitting; Bardem recalled in 2024 that she was 17 and he was 22, that it was her first film and one of his first, and that Bigas Luna predicted during the 1992 shoot that the two would become among the best actors in the world and would end up together[15](https://elpais.com/gente/2024-10-22/javier-bardem-fotografiado-por-penelope-cruz-habla-de-su-historia-de-amor-y-la-paternidad-en-gentlemans-journal.html) • [16](https://as.com/meristation/cine/bigas-luna-director-lo-vaticino-hace-34-anos-penelope-cruz-y-bardem-seran-los-mejores-actores-del-mundo-y-acabaran-juntos-f202605-n/). They later married; their daughter is named Luna, after the director[17](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2026-09-08/javier-bardem-y-penelope-cruz-una-historia-de-amor-de-cine.html).
The film has remained in circulation. It streams in Spain on Movistar Plus+ and FlixOlé and can be rented or bought on Apple TV and [Google Play](https://www.edgepedia.org/google-play)[18](https://www.justwatch.com/es/pelicula/jamon-jamon), and Janus Films holds it for theatrical booking in a restored DCP[2](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2316). For the film's 30th anniversary in 2022, the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival screened the full trilogy with a round table on Bigas Luna's legacy[19](https://cartasvivas.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESFF2022_-FINAL-PROGRAMME_LOW-RES-FOR-WEB.pdf).
## References
1. [JAMON JAMON, Catálogo de Películas ICAA, Ministerio de Cultura de España](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=16791)
2. [Jamón, Jamón, Janus Films](https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2316)
3. [Carolina Sanabria (2013). Jamón jamón (1992): De jamones y cuernos. Revista Comunicación 16(1)](https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/comunicacion/article/view/925)
4. [Bigas Luna, director best known for his surrealist melodrama Jamón Jamón, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/bigas-luna-director-best-known-for-his-surrealist-melodrama-jamon-jamon-8640132.html)
5. [Jamón Jamón (1992), full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt0104545/fullcredits/)
6. [Ángel Fernández-Santos (13 September 1992). Triunfo clamoroso de la película china 'La historia de Qiu Ju', El País](https://elpais.com/diario/1992/09/13/cultura/716335203_850215.html)
7. [JAMÓN JAMÓN, ficha técnica, Filmoteca.org](https://www.filmoteca.org/pelicula-jamon-jamon.htm)
8. [Jamón Jamón, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/es/movie/jamon-jamon/umc.cmc.6nul0klvz7ml9pvre0o1s1dek)
9. [Jamón, jamón, AMC Channels España](https://amcchannels.es/programa/jamon-jamon/)
10. [Anécdotas de Bigas x Bigas, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-250010/secretos/)
11. [Jamon Jamon (1992), Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104545/awards/)
12. [Trabajo fin de grado sobre la trilogía ibérica de Bigas Luna, Universidad de Zaragoza](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/88819/files/TAZ-TFG-2019-4335.pdf)
13. [Las 50 mejores películas españolas del último medio siglo, El País Babelia (10 May 2025)](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-05-10/las-50-mejores-peliculas-espanolas-del-ultimo-medio-siglo.html)
14. [Santiago Fouz-Hernández. Ensnared Between Pleasure and Politics, Durham University repository](https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/1684997)
15. [Javier Bardem, fotografiado por Penélope Cruz, El País (22 October 2024)](https://elpais.com/gente/2024-10-22/javier-bardem-fotografiado-por-penelope-cruz-habla-de-su-historia-de-amor-y-la-paternidad-en-gentlemans-journal.html)
16. [Bigas Luna lo vaticinó hace 34 años, AS](https://as.com/meristation/cine/bigas-luna-director-lo-vaticino-hace-34-anos-penelope-cruz-y-bardem-seran-los-mejores-actores-del-mundo-y-acabaran-juntos-f202605-n/)
17. [Javier Bardem y Penélope Cruz, una historia de amor de cine, El País](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2026-09-08/javier-bardem-y-penelope-cruz-una-historia-de-amor-de-cine.html)
18. [Jamón, jamón (1992), JustWatch España](https://www.justwatch.com/es/pelicula/jamon-jamon)
19. [Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival 2022 programme, Bigas Luna Tribute](https://cartasvivas.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESFF2022_-FINAL-PROGRAMME_LOW-RES-FOR-WEB.pdf)
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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 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license