The Dark Night of the Soul
(1989)
★ 5.3 IMDb · 11 votes
Year: 1989
Runtime: 93 мин
Country: France, Spain
Director: Carlos Saura
Cast: Juan Diego, Жюли Дельпи, Fernando Guillén, Manuel de Blas, Francisco Casares, Fermí Reixach, Абель Витон, María Elena Flores, Adolfo Thous
Plot
Pantheon filmmaker Carlos Saura bounced back from a handful of failures with 1989's La Noche Oscura (The Dark Night). Juan Diego stars as San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross), the legendary 16th-century poet-prophet. Galvanized into action by the spirit of Santa Teresa de Jesus, San Juan fought to install reforms in the Carmelite Order. Like many another visionary, he was regarded as a heretic, and promptly subjected to the most appalling of tortures. Writer-director Saura manages to draw several parallels between the religious persecution of the 1700s and the political despotism of Fascist Spain.