Review of Mad Love (2001) by Alan F — 20 Apr 2010

Good historical films are few and far between, however, Juana La Loca (a.k.a. Mad Love) is definitely a good one. It is indeed a rare thing for historical personalities who are not Elizabeth I or Cleopatra to get their own feature films, although historical fiction novels are quite numerous. So to see that Juana de Trastamara did get her own film, and made by film makers from her own homeland, I was more than delighted.

Juana's story is nothing but tragic, largely due to the fact that she was an impassioned woman who was married to a vicious philanderer. Whether or not she was truly insane, we shall never know for certain, for due to the series of fateful events, she found herself from being the third-born child of Isabel I of Castile and Fernando II of Aragon to being the heiress and then Queen of Castile. Power plays around her by the men closest to her: her father, her husband, and later her son, must have played a factor to some degree of the tales spun about her that have made her legendary.

The film is treated well, in terms of cinematography, costumes, sets, movement of plot, and acting. Pilar Lopez de Ayala makes a very charming Juana, indeed. Acting as the wife who is obsessed with the handsome husband who shuns her over-eager attentions, Ms. Lopez de Ayala succeeds well in bringing out the sympathies of the audience. What person who has ever been in love could not imagine what they would do if they were in her shoes? Her acting is very convincing as the Spanish Infanta who goes from being an innocent girl, into a jealous wife, to a dignified queen -- for as history does show, Juana may have been the subject of several scandals in her day, but there is also evidence that she never forgot her upbringing as the daughter of Isabel I.

Perhaps the one segment that could have been removed was the inclusion of the Moorish courtesan, but otherwise, this is a great film. Certainly, when Juana's husband Philip lies dying, little sympathy can be mustered for him, but more can be generated for Juana's sorrow. Overall, a great presentation of a life and personality that should not be, and has not been, forgotten.