Costa Brava

Our Rating: L Factor: Lesbian Film Short Take: A Spanish actress/tour guide and an Israeli-American scientist fall in love in Barcelona. Alternate Titles:
Year: 1995 Duration: 90 min Language: Spain/English MPAA: Not Rated	Director: Marta Balletbò-Coll Writer: Marta Balletbò-Coll, Ana Simón Cerezo Starring: Desi del Valle, Marta Balletbò-Coll

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Writer/director Marta Balletbò-Coll also stars in this lesbian romance that was shot in fourteen days in Barcelona and the Costa Brava in Spain. Anna (Balletbò-Col, Sévigné) is a very charming Catalonian actress who works as a tour guide to pay the bills while polishing a monologue that she hopes to present on stage in Barcelona or the US. In it she plays a Communist housewife who falls for her lesbian neighbor.

Recovering from being dumped by a well known actress, Anna meets Montserrat (Desi del Valle, Some Prefer Cake, Desi’s Looking for a New Girl) one day on one of her tours. Born in Israel and raised in the United States, Montserrat is a seismologist teaching in Spain. Although she repeatedly tells Anna that she’s not a lesbian, the two fall in love, eventually moving in together.

Unfortunately, there’s little spark between them on screen, and we never even see a kiss. Balletbò-Coll is witty and a joy, but the same can’t be said for the other half of the duo. On the bright side, we do get to see much of Barcelona along with Anna and her tour groups.

Nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. The original Naiad video can sometimes be found on ebay or amazon, or it’s now on dvd from Spain. Dialog is in English (although it may be inaccurately listed as only in Spanish on some websites). (AB)