Lola

Colour, 35 mm
Spain, France, 2006, 112 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Léon is a loner. He doesn’t work, he doesn’t socialise. He does however take care of his sick mother perfectly and selflessly. To do something to overcome his loneliness, he steals the neighbours’ mail. He also enjoys listening in on what people are saying, and is fond of sitting around at a little train station where he watches the passengers bustle about. When a loud Spaniard named Dolores comes to stay in the building one day, Léon turns all of his attention to her. He knows about all of her contacts and moods and spies on her every step. He also knows Lola’s horoscope and records the details of her life... Will Lola ever realise that someone has become her shadow? A tale of love and desire in which one never hears the words “I love you”. A tale of unconsummated passion, in which love can never end because one of the lovers does not know of the other’s existence. Lola Dueñas, who plays the role of Lola, brought home a Best Actress Award from Cannes last year for her performance in Almodóvar’s Volver, as did the film’s other protagonists.

About the director

Javier Rebollo (b. 1969, Madrid) is one of the most renowned Spanish documentary filmmakers. Between 1997 and 2002 he made five short films for which he won more than a hundred film awards. The acclaimed five films are In the Middle of Nowhere (En medio de ninguna parte, 1997), Hello, Stranger (Hola, desconocido!, 1998), The Open Luggage (El equipaje abierto, 1998), The Right Order of Things (El preciso órden de las cosas, 2001) and In Separate Beds (En camas separadas, 2002). Rebollo was nominated for a Goya Award and also nominated for Best European Film. His feature film debut Lola (2006) came about “incidentally” over the course of the last ten years while the director was working on short films.