(Written and directed by Juan Antonio Bardem; starring Lucia Bosé, Alberto Closas, Otello Torso, Bruna Corra, Carlos Casaravilla, and Manuel Alexandre. Released 09 May 1955; watched 2023w25 via Criterion Channel)

Tycherion powers of random, activate: finally returning to something of a cinema-watching regimen, utilizing a timespace that I had, heretofore – and stupidly – neglected; lucky (In some ways) that Tycherion tends to pick crime films from countries I would otherwise have never associated with the genre (Spain – as to why I never associated Spain with the genre, I'm going to blame my own blinders, in spite of a longstanding effort to make the world seem bigger than my tiny, 3.2 mile circle would otherwise lead me to believe).

While there are things that I do, indeed, love about this film – all of the performances (especially Carlos Casaravilla channeling Peter Lorre at his smarmiest and notching it up by about twenty); the general thrust of the narrative; the gradual revelations of the past between Juan and María José; the pervasive sense of paranoia and suspicion brought to visceral life by stunning cinematography and jarring, discordant transitions from scene to scene – it lost me in the last 25 minutes, the "everybody dies" (spoilers) ending which felt as though it was one of those "I wrote myself into a corner and can't figure any other way out" endings.

One caveat WRT the above: I watched the film across two days, loving the first day, not loving the second day (the final 25 minutes) so it was watched by two different iterations of me separated by exhaustion and mood.

Worth watching, though – and someday I might rewatch in one go and see if that changes anything.