91Èȱ¬

Inconscientes (Unconscious) is a distinctive, quirky comedy, which caused a stir at last year's Sundance Film Festival and is finally getting a limited UK release. Set in Barcelona in 1913, against a modernist backdrop of Sigmund Freud's theories and Gaudi's architecture, the well-structured, multi-layered script - part mystery, part romance - is bolstered by a great cast, with genuine on-screen chemistry.

A heavily pregnant Alma (Leonor Watling) returns home one day to find her eminent psychiatrist husband Dr Leon Pardo (Alex Brendemühl) in tears and about to flee their home and his practice. Left to have their baby alone, she enlists the help of her admiring brother-in-law Salvador (Luis Tosar) and sets about uncovering the elaborate mystery of Leon's sudden departure. Their investigation is based on Leon's thesis on female sexuality and leads them to a series of unlikely discoveries. These include Salvador's sexually frustrated wife Olivia (Nuria Prims), who is also Alma's sister and one of Leon's recent patients.

"A JOY TO WATCH"

With both feet firmly rooted in high farce, many of the comic situations and characters are deliberately OTT. Watling's portrayal of the neurotic firebrand Alma and Tosar's bumbling, love-struck Salvador are a joy to watch together, while Mercedes Sampietro shines as the drunken housekeeper. Despite only appearing in the last act, Brendemühl threatens to steal the show with a hilarious final monologue. A well-observed, sideways portrait of the day, Unconscious is a little gem.

In Spanish with English subtitles.