Older male lust for tender young flesh lovingly pervades these two early films by the Spanish director Eloy de la Iglesia who specialized in many genres of films including the legendary Quinqui films, but is least credited with directing the first two openly homosexual films in Spain: Hidden Pleasures & Confessions of a Congressman.
A highly controversial film upon its release in Spain as the first feature narrative with homosexuality openly discussed, Hidden Pleasures follows Eduardo, a wealthy banker who has a pastime for hiring young street hustlers to keep his bed warm, yet ignores requests from a friend to join the social gay movements. One day while cruising around town he spots Miguel, an extremely handsome teen who has a penchant for women and motorcycles. Eduardo offers Miguel a job and eventually gets closer and closer with him. Eduardo’s building lust and the jealousy of others in their lives creates havoc for all.
Fighting for liberty, love, and your secret teenage lover are the themes of Confessions of a Congressman and our protagonist Roberto Orbea is a leader and follower of the ideals of his radical leftist opposition party, but he’s hiding a secret from the party and his wife Carmen: he can’t resist the cheap beautiful street teenagers that bad-boy Nes throws his way for various pleasures. Eventually the fascists find out about his proclivities and hire the blonde and angelic-looking Juanito to infiltrate Roberto’s life. But after a while Juanito starts to find his place with Roberto, with politics, and even with Carmen. With the elections fast approaching all three members of this strange throuple will have to decide how much they’re willing to lose to avoid revealing the truth.
directed by: Eloy de la Iglesia
starring: José Sacristán, María Luisa San José, José Luis Alonso, Simón Andreu, Tony Fuentes
1977, 1978 / 200 min (combined) / 1.66:1, 1.85:1 / Spanish DTS-HD MA 1.0
Additional info:
- Region Free Blu-ray
- 'Smiling at the Door: Eloy de la Iglesia's Hidden Pleasures' - A Video Essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- 'Sex Post-Franco: The Queer Sensibility of Eloy de la Iglesia' - A Video Essay by Lee Gambin
- Original Spanish Trailer for 'El Diputado'
- Other Trailers
- English subtitles
