A noblewoman kills a man, flees in drag, and accidentally seduces her own love interest. Seventeenth-century Spain was WILD.
Doña Maria de Guzman, a beautiful lady of Ronda has seen as Don Diego slapped his elderly father, disguised as a man pretending to be his brother (the expected return from Flanders) duels with him and kills him. Forced to flee, traveling in company with Don Juan, one of his fans, still hiding her gender. Unable to bear the intimacy with a soldier who believes him, leaving Don Juan and arrives in Madrid. Based on the play by Lope de Vega. The Adventures of Dona Maria de Guzman, a seventeenth-century noblewoman: served in a hostel, dressed as a man, dueled ... A life rich in experiences.
Acting
Paquita Rico's swaggering, vulnerable dual performance.
Costume
The visual thrill of period drag transformation.
Writing
Lope de Vega's plotting still lands after 350 years.
Director
Florián Rey
Paquita Rico
María de Guzmán / Isabel
Peter Damon
Don Juan
Rafael Arcos
Antonio
Marta Santaolalla
Doña Ana
Ismael Merlo
Felipe IV
Manuel Kayser
Don Bernardo, Conde de Arcos
Emilio Alonso
Conde de Tudela
Antonio Puga
Pedro
Casimiro Hurtado
Posadero
Luis Pérez de León
Posadero
Aníbal Vela
Alcalde
Rosario Royo
Clara
Delia Luna
Doña Beatriz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Florián Rey directed this during Francisco Franco's regime, yet the film's gender subversion somehow slipped past censors—perhaps because the 'disguise' ultimately resolves into traditional marriage.
Lope de Vega's 1612 play 'La moza del cántaro' was part of the 'comedia nueva' movement that revolutionized Spanish theater with fast-paced, socially mobile protagonists—María descends from this lineage of rule-breaking women.
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