Cast

Pedro, played by Víctor Laplace

María, played by Ivonne López

Juan, played by Miguel Paneque

Prostitute, played by Mirta Ibarra

René Simon, played by Adolfo Llaurado

With

Elio Mesa, Paula Alí, Amelia Pita, Dagobero Gainza, José Pelayo, Raúl Eguren, Jorge Alí, Daniel Jordan, Justo Fonseca, Pedro Fernández, Peggy Gómez, Miriam Dávila, Ileana Leyva, Elvira Valdés, José Hernández, Esteban Saldiguera

Crew

Director: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

Director’s assistant: Ana Rodríguez

Plot: Gabriel García Márquez

Screenplay: Eliseo Alberto, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Gabriel García Márquez

Additional texts: Eliseo Diego

Photography: Mario García Joya

Camera: Mario García Joya

Music: Gonzalo Rubalcaba

Sound: Germinal Hernández

Editing: Miriam Talavera

Scenography: Fernando Pérez O’Reilly

Wardrobe: Miriam Dueñas

Make-up: Graciela Crossas, Lisette Davila and Aymara Cisneros

Producer: Santiago Llapur

Executive Producer: Max Marambio

Produced by: Televisión Española, along with the New Latin-American Film Foundation

Plot

Cartas del parque is set in Matanzas, a provincial town in Cuba, in 1913. The film is split into four sections, each based on the name of a season. The film opens with a scene in which René Simon is preparing to take off in his hot-air balloon. Juan, an apothecary’s assistant, is a member of the crowd; he is making eyes at a pretty young girl called María. Juan hitches a ride by clinging onto the rope hanging down from the hot-air balloon. Juan decides to woo María in earnest, but since he is not very eloquent he enlists the services of a local poet, Pedro, to write love letters for him. In a curious twist of fate, María also decides to hire Pedro’s services in order to respond to the same letters. As a result of the growth of their mutual love, Juan invites María to accompany him on a romantic boat-ride around a nearby lake. We find out more about Pedro the poet’s amorous activities with a ravishing prostitute in the local brothel; this earthy love contrasts with the love he describes in his letters which is ethereal and Platonic. María’s mother, meanwhile, is not impressed by her daughter’s interest in Juan, and tries to persuade her to take an interest in a young career-minded man called Marcelo. María and Juan go to the cinema, and Juan seems more interested in the documentary about flying than in María.