Time of Happiness (Spanish: El tiempo de la felicidad) is a 1997 Spanish film directed and written by Manuel Iborra[es]. Its cast features Verónica Forqué, Silvia Abascal, María Adánez, Carlos Fuentes, Pepón Nieto, Liberto Rabal, Fele Martínez, and Antonio Resines, among others.

Plot

The fiction is set in Ibiza in the Summer of 1970, with the backdrop of the hippy counterculture and the topic of free love. It tracks a "dysfunctional" nuclear family (consisting of Julia and Fernando as well as their four children Cucho, Elena, Verónica and Juan) and their romantic and sexual endeavours in the island.

Cast

Production

The film is a Sogecine and Central de Producciones Audiovisuales production. While set in Ibiza, the film was primarily shot in the neighbouring island of Mallorca.

Release

Distributed by Sogepaq, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 4 July 1997.

Reception

Jonathan Holland of Variety considered that Iborra delivers a "mature but slightly flat nostalgia vehicle" that despite being "well crafted and intermittently affecting" and with some "terrific" performances, it is unlikely to induce "anything but mild astonishment" among offshore audiences.

Casimiro Torreiro of El País considered that, excessive subordination of the film to Forqué as well as other issues notwithstanding, the film breathes at ease when its young actresses (particularly Abascal) take over.

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
199812th Goya AwardsBest SoundDaniel Goldstein, Eduardo Fernández, Ricardo SteinbergNominated

See also