Javier Bardem

Maria de Medeiros

Maribel Verdú

Elisa Tovati

Benicio del Toro

Alessandro Gassmann

Ángel de Andrés López

Alicia Moro

Raquel Bianca

Albert Vidal

Enric Cusí

Francisco Casares

María Martín

Thomas Lusht

Alberto Merelles

Elisabeth Escayola

Stella Condorelli

Ingrid Morrall

Ismael 'East' Carlo

Ecos de Andalucía

Johnny Messana

Francesco Maria Dominedò

Bigas Luna

Cuca Canals

Nicola Piovani

Pepo Sol

Stéphane Marsil

Aurelio De Laurentiis

Antxón Gómez

Andrés Vicente Gómez

Xavier Gélin

Carmen Frías

Neus Olivella

Manuel Lombardero

Consol Tura

Irene Montcada

Balter Gallart

José Luis Alcaine

Betty De Villanueva

Satur Merino

Comedy

Drama

Huevos de oro

Filmauro

Hugo Films S.A.

Lumière

Ovídeo TV S.A.

Lolafilms

Spain

Italy

France

Bigas Luna's 1993 film <i>Huevos de oro</i> ("Golden Balls/Eggs", a title punning on both the goose that laid the golden eggs and a tough guy's balls of steel) depicts the rise and fall of Benito Gonzalez (Javier Bardem), a young Spanish construction worker who becomes an affluent real estate developer on the Mediterranean coast.

After being jilted by his first girlfriend (Elisa Tovati), who leaves him for his best friend, Benito develops a mania for building the tallest building in Benidorm, which may be seen as little more than an enormous phallic symbol flaunting his manhood. Obsessed with this big construction project, his lust for his next woman, Claudia (Maribel Verdú) takes second place to having her sleep with potential investors to win them over. Benito then marries a banker's daughter, Marta (Maria de Medeiros) to have access to her father's funds. Benito lives a life of sexual excess and enormous consumption of food, especially the Alicante sweet known as torrón. Like some of the work of Almodovar, Bigas Luna clearly likes riffing on Spanish stereotypes and regional differences.

Ultimately, however, Benito's hubris leads to his downfall. This protagonist is certainly an odious guy, but -- though I won't spoil the ending -- the depths to which he is ultimately sunk inspire a perverse sympathy in the viewer. Years went by between my first viewing of this film and the second, but in the interim I would often look back on this film's plot and ending scenes, thinking of how sad it was to lose everything and end up that way.

<i>Huevos de oro</i> isn't an especially deep film, but that dramatic arc, hewing very close to classical notions of tragedy, is impressive and I'd say this film is worth a watch.

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Golden Balls

Golden Balls (1993) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD]