This slow-burn film is the big Spanish surprise at the box office (and has beaten blockbusters)

The first thing Avelina Prat says upon picking up the phone is, "I'm incredibly surprised." And no wonder. Her second film, A Portuguese Villa , released over a month ago, has cracked the top ten most-watched films in theaters , surpassing 100,000 viewers . It's currently competing with Mission: Impossible , Lilo & Stitch , and Minecraft . And, of course, it's by far the Spanish film with the highest box office gross in recent weeks (depending on the data collected these days by Oliver Laxe 's Sirat , the other big Spanish hype film).

The interesting thing about this Prat film is that, a priori, it lacks the ingredients to explain this success . It doesn't have a Grand Prize at any major international festival. It's not a comedy with crude jokes. It's not a film for children. It doesn't have anyone paragliding around. It's not a saccharine romance full of clichés. Nor does anything happen every two minutes. It's slow, calm, with lots of dialogue, very literary. Why, though, is it so popular? Perhaps the answer is that we need to have more faith in viewers ...

Avelina Prat, director: "What people tell us is that they feel very good when they see it. I think we've simply made something that people like."

“I don't know,” Prat answers honestly. However, it's obvious that both she, who directed and wrote the script, and her production company, Distrito Films, have stopped to think about what's going on and have come to a couple of conclusions. “We think it does have elements of intrigue that keep you hooked the whole time, wondering what's going to happen, even though it's a calm film. And then what people tell us is that they feel very comfortable when they see it. I think we've simply made something that people like,” she maintains.

No more clichés

A Portuguese Country House is not your typical film, and once you get into it, you discover things that are far from the ordinary. It begins when Fernando, played by Manolo Solo , is abandoned by his wife without telling him and for no reason. One day, while he's teaching Geography , she leaves home, and there's no more contact. His soul shattered, he ends up, by various chance, working as a gardener at a country house in Portugal managed by Amalia, played by María de Medeiros. From there, a friendship begins in which both characters—and many others who appear—rebuild their spirit and their lives. There's nothing more, but there's a lot there.

The story, in fact, immediately captivated the actors involved, and they are fantastic. Solo is possibly one of the best Spanish actors working today—he has excellent roles, such as in Erice's "Closing Your Eyes "—and De Medeiros has a renewed, calmer energy that reminds us what a fine actress she is. They are joined by Branka Katic, Rita Cabaço, and Ivan Barnev —the endearing Vasil from Prat's first film—deploying an international cast that gives the film a unique character and shows us that, in reality, we are all surrounded by people who come from other places far more than we think.

“When I wrote the story, I never thought about it being a small film, but rather a good one . And to do that, I wanted to have the best actors. The script was very well-received, and that allowed us to have such a great cast,” Prat maintains. In the end, as he insists, it's often a matter of the script being good enough for everything else to work. No fireworks.

On the other hand, the viewer doesn't find a classic story and delves into relationships like friendship between men and women , which are much less common: you can spend hours and hours talking over a glass of wine without it ending up in the bedroom. "I wanted to avoid clichés. It seemed much richer to escape romance. Besides, friendship can also be a very strong and close relationship. It also speaks of love for the territory, for a place you make your own, " Prat reflects.

If you've read this far, you're probably thinking you've got no idea who Avelina Prat is. This is logical, as this is only her second film, although she's perfectly familiar with the world of Spanish cinema. Although she's an architect by training , cinema had always attracted her, and she enrolled years ago in short film scriptwriting courses. There, she met director Sigfrid Monleón , who was about to shoot a film and hired her as a scriptwriter—the person who ensures the film has no continuity errors in costumes, props, hair, facial expressions, etc. It was her first of many, more than forty. Prat has worked with practically every director, such as Fernando Trueba , Manuel Martín Cuenca, and Belén Macías, just to name a few.

"I'm very interested in immigration, and I think it's one of the most important issues right now. People come to another country for very different reasons."

Until 2022, she directed her first film, Vasil , starring Karra Elejalde and Ivan Barnev, who play a very strange couple: Barnev is a Bulgarian immigrant whom Elejalde takes into his home, and at first, we don't even know why. Although it wasn't as successful as A Portuguese Villa —it can now be seen on RTVE's Play platform—there are aspects in the subject matter, and especially in the rhythm, that are similar. "Yes, I'm very interested in immigration, and I think it's one of the most important topics right now. People come to another country for very different reasons. There are many stories there, and they interest me. On the other hand, as a spectator, I see everything from all over the world. I think cinema is a great window," she comments.

Prat is a name you'll likely hear more about in the coming months, especially in the run-up to the major awards. A director already working on her third project, she joins the many other female creators filling Spanish cinema with stories. "This is a great time for female directors , and there's a lot of support that's noticeable; but we're also at a time when Spanish cinema is very diverse, and there are all kinds of stories," says Prat. Hers, of course, is very popular with those who still go to the movie theaters.