Un lugar en el sol

A strong drama about how falling in love and truly falling in love are simply different. The first girl is not the right one, but the second one, that's already something else. No wonder, when it's Elizabeth Taylor. A dramatic story dominated by the naive and perhaps a little foolish George Montgomeryho Clift, who proves that he was not just a pretty face. (03.11.2014)

A melodrama with very dark undertones and one of the best presented instances of frustration. Despite his deadly effort, George is unable to find fulfilment in his personal or professional life, and the American Dream, whose fulfilment he considers to be his obligation as an ambitious young man, turns into a series of stressful life choices, none of which turn out to be right. Or does he really love Angela as such and not just the unattainable lifestyle that she, as a woman from a higher social class, personifies in his eyes? The unanswered questions enable the protagonist to be perceived simultaneously as a culprit and as a victim of a society whose demands he wanted to satisfy at any cost. The melodramatic and noir levels are firmly intertwined. The film doesn’t switch to another genre at any particular moment; it only starts to accentuate it more. The composition of the shots, with space intentionally left empty and with appropriately placed objects, has a certain narrative value in and of itself, as it draws attention to the mental state of the characters and hints at what undertones will happen (the courtroom in the background before the fateful journey to the lake). The directing exhibits absolute control over every scene, thanks to which George Stevens was able to weave a more subversive message into the film through the mise-en-scéne than that which the script conveys (thus adding hints of other thwarted erotic desires to the Oedipal fixation on the mother). In addition to that, the film also offers an absolutely professional presentation of method acting and an emotional whirlwind that won’t let you catch your breath. 85% (18.11.2012)