Golden Balls

1993

ComedyDrama

A libidinous construction worker uses his charm and bravado in an attempt to attain enough finances to build his dream project.

Rating

5.477
88 votes

Popularity

1.9553

Origin & Countries

ES | es | Spain,Italy,France

Production

Filmauro,Hugo Films S.A.,Lumière,Ovídeo TV S.A.,Lolafilms

Runtime

95 min.

Status

Released

Release: 9/24/1993

Credits

Golden Balls

Bigas LunaDirector

Golden Balls

Javier BardemBenito González

Golden Balls

Maria de MedeirosMarta (La mujer, 45 kilos)

Golden Balls

Maribel VerdúClaudia (La amante, 52 kilos)

Golden Balls

Elisa TovatiRita (El primer amor, 47 kilos)

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Reviews

CRCulver

10/21/2018

6 / 10

Bigas Luna's 1993 film <i>Huevos de oro</i> ("Golden Balls/Eggs", a title punning on both the goose that laid the golden eggs and a tough guy's balls of steel) depicts the rise and fall of Benito Gonzalez (Javier Bardem), a young Spanish construction worker who becomes an affluent real estate developer on the Mediterranean coast. After being jilted by his first girlfriend (Elisa Tovati), who leaves him for his best friend, Benito develops a mania for building the tallest building in Benidorm, which may be seen as little more than an enormous phallic symbol flaunting his manhood. Obsessed with this big construction project, his lust for his next woman, Claudia (Maribel Verdú) takes second place to having her sleep with potential investors to win them over. Benito then marries a banker's daughter, Marta (Maria de Medeiros) to have access to her father's funds. Benito lives a life of sexual excess and enormous consumption of food, especially the Alicante sweet known as torrón. Like some of the work of Almodovar, Bigas Luna clearly likes riffing on Spanish stereotypes and regional differences. Ultimately, however, Benito's hubris leads to his downfall. This protagonist is certainly an odious guy, but -- though I won't spoil the ending -- the depths to which he is ultimately sunk inspire a perverse sympathy in the viewer. Years went by between my first viewing of this film and the second, but in the interim I would often look back on this film's plot and ending scenes, thinking of how sad it was to lose everything and end up that way. <i>Huevos de oro</i> isn't an especially deep film, but that dramatic arc, hewing very close to classical notions of tragedy, is impressive and I'd say this film is worth a watch.

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