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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2023
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.
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