Customer Reviews

The Perfect Crime (El Crimen Perfecto)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had seen a preview for "Crimen Perfecto" in the theaters quite a while ago, and I thought it looked like a cute diversion. However, I was not prepared for this outrageously funny black comedy--it so far exceeded my expectations that I can't recommend it highly enough. Part sex romp, part macabre murder, part emotional blackmail, part supernatural, part retail satire--this one really covers a lot of ground in a very silly way. It's dark humor, sometimes mean-spirited, in the vein of perhaps "A Fish Called Wanda."

Rafael, played nicely by Guillermo Toledo, is a Department Store lothario. Manager of Women's Wear, he is working his way through the attractive sales staff. When a promotion to Floor Supervisor doesn't go his way, he is infuriated. Confronting his nemesis, who has received the job, an altercation ensues leaving the rival dead. But there's a witness. Homely Lourdes, a delightful Monica Cervera, helps him cover up the accident because she is secretly in love with Rafael. But this entwines them in the crime and in life.

The movie turns into a demented battle of wills and blackmail. Advised by the ghoulish specter of the dead man, Rafael plots to extricate himself from the clutches of an increasingly bizarre Lourdes. Played fast and loose, this is a laugh out loud comedy--but it's clever too. It's outrageous, but not dumb--a perfect balance of slapstick and wit. But it can be the blackest of humor as well--what with murder, dismemberment and more. And I loved the Department Store setting--anyone who has ever worked retail will appreciate the astute satire of this backdrop.

Not necessarily a classic, but a movie I will share with others--I'd rate this at about 4 1/2 stars for entertainment value. KGHarris, 11/06.

This is black comedy at its best! It is a cheerfully amoral movie from Spain about ambition, sex, power, and murder. Nearly all of the action takes place within a posh cosmopolitan department store.

Our narrator, Rafael, is a department salesman who reigns over the ladies' section like a self-satisfied despot. Women breathe a little heavier in his presence. All but one of his male co-workers are in complete awe of him; only dour fellow salesman Don Antonio openly disapproves of Rafael. The two men are competing for an upper management position, and Rafael is counting on his own considerable charisma to help him land the job.

But the competition between himself and his rival becomes increasingly intense. A scuffle in the men's dressing room ends with Rafael inadvertantly murdering Don Antonio. In a sweaty panic, he tries to cover his tracks and dispose of the body - only to discover that someone has beaten him to it!

That "someone" is Lourdes, a homely, clown-obsessed saleswoman with a sizable crush on Rafael. Lourdes is alternately threatening and needy towards Rafael, who must now simutaneously conspire with and appease her. It isn't long before he becomes more and more resentful of her attention and her ambitions. Soon Rafael is planning to murder Lourdes, too. He becomes more delusional as he becomes more walled in. In some of the funniest scenes, the murdered Don Antonio reappears as a sympathetic ghost, ready to help the increasingly desperate Rafael carry out her murder.

Rafael's cocky narration and self-serving philosophies are hilarious. So are his attempts to reign in Lourdes' touchy affection, knowing that a wrong move on his part can send her running to the police to incriminate him. Best of all are the increasingly absurd situations that center around the disposal of Don Antonio's dead body, as Rafael tries to understand whether the murdered body or Lourdes herself poses the greater threat. I don't think I've laughed so much during a movie in years. It's that good!

Bueno, es verdad que a los novatos aquí en EE.UU.
que estudian español se les hace difícil entender
lo que se dice por el ceceo de los españoles. Pero,
con todo, esta película la encontré muy aguda,
ingeniosa y de lo más divertida y al verla en la
tele por un canal de habla hispana la compré para
mi colección. Para mí es una película muy acertada
en demostrar como son ciertos tipos de seres humanos,
y tiene un final muy chistoso y una música que pega.

I'm not a complete fan of Alex de la Iglesia's movies - he's technically proficient, but the things that tend to interest him (old style cinephilia, terror films of the 70s, pop culture in general) are far from mine. This biting satire of consumerism, though, is probably as perfect (or ferpect) a film as he can make. The movie stars Rafael, who works as the head salesman in the ladies section of a large department store in Madrid (it is subtly touching that Rafael believes his position in society is far more important than it really is). Around him work very beautiful, model-like woman, that he never fails to bed. He's the ruler of a very small kingdom. Soon, a job opens for one of the top posts in the department store, and he founds himself fighting for the promotion against the balding Don Antonio, one of the old-fashioned vendors in the men' section. Rafael accidentally kills him, and after wards disposes of the body. But there is one witness, Lourdes, the ugliest worker in the department store (and I mean, really ugly), who is in love with Rafael. She's also something of a psycho, has a really crazy family and she will then proceed to blackmail Rafael into marrying her in order not to blow the whistle about the murder; a nightmare for the consummate ladies man that is Rafael. The last 20 minutes are something of a letdown (De la Iglesia probably didn't knew how to end the story, since a tragic ending would be out of line with the farcical tone of the movie before), but overall this is a surprisingly strong, entertaining movie, that is also hilariously critical of capitalism.

I cannot recommend it enough to those who like something refreshingly different in comedy which turns dark and takes all kinds of twists and turns throughout. Don Antonio's ghoulish ghost who accompanies Rafael in the second part of the movie is absolutely hysterical. Even smaller parts like the table scene when Rafael goes to Lourdes' home for dinner is a must see with neurotic mom, dad who just can't anymore and sleeps sitting up to escape the family dysfunction, and the little sister who will declare anything for shock value to make mamma pass out in front of their guest. Every little part of the film has something incredibly funny. You will laugh 'til you howl.

I love the Spanish sense of humor (as in from Spain). There is also another great movie from this director: El Dia De La Bestia (The Day Of The Beast) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]. I also liked Common Wealth. 800 Bullets was not that great, but you can't ace them all.

We'd seen the trailer for "The Perfect Crime" when this was in the theaters. We passed it by then and saved it for DVD. Now, I'm kicking myself for not seeing it in the theater. Oh, how the US trailer misleads you on this black, black, blackest of comedies. The Spanish trailer nails the dark essence of the film; the US trailer tried to pass it off as lighter fare. Don't believe it: rent or buy this movie as soon as you possibly can and revel in twisted vision of writer/director (and producer!) Álex de la Iglesia.

Star Guillermo Toledo is awesome here - his swagger and brio at the film' outset and well into the first hour is breathtaking. You're taken aback when you find out that this man who you think must be at the pinnacle of his profession is, in fact, manager of the women's clothes department at Yeyo's (a Macy's-like entity). But that's just it: de la Iglesia's direction and take is that Guillermo's Rafael_is_ at the peak. And why wouldn't you think that when you're surrounded by Spain's most beautiful actresses like Penélope Velasco, Kira Miró and Montserrat Mostaza as your adoring staff?

But, oh, how Rafa's life takes a turn for the worse. An unfortunate turn of events and an even more unfortunate (for Rafa's sake) witness to those events (in the form of a outstanding performance by Mónica Cervera) serve to bring his highly confident days to a slow and crushing end.

Though the film changes dramatically from beginning to end, the one constant is the excellence of Guillermo Toledo. It's an astounding performance. I can't recommend this movie highly enough.

Oh - let me be another to add that the movie loses a bit in the translation of the title to English: the original Spanish language release is "El Crimen Ferpecto" - note the transposed 'f' and 'p'. It's a joke within the movie - Rafael is renting the Spanish-dubbed release of the 1928 film ("The Perfect Crime" - the real one!) and the register rings up the film with the incorrect name. Guillermo is so deranged at the time (he's spiraling down pretty good at that point) that the error drives him to distraction.

La vi la primera vez en la HBO latino. Me enamore de ella. Esta pelicula me tenia riendo desde el principio hasta el fin. Los actores tienen accentos castellanos entonces para algunos queda un poco dificil entender lo que dicen los actores. Para mi entendia. Me encantan las comedias negras porque son honestas y poco politicalmente correctas; esta peli' no es differente. Es brillante!!!

I saw this movie once and thought it be a good idea to share it with my family, especially those who speak mostly spanish.

I caught this movie once, just by chance, on Showtime and I wanted to buy it right then and there.

Very funny, but also very dark. It almost seemed like a movie the Coens would do.

Highly recommend this movie.