This is starting to drive me crazy. When I studied in Sevilla for a semester in 2001, one of my professors showed our class a
Spanish movie. It was fairly recent, so probably released in the late nineties. I canNOT remember the name of it, but I remember some of the details. It was a "forbidden love"-type story, and I think the male character may be a flamenco dancer. The girl's family does not approve of her relationship with him. I remember him driving a motorcycle, wearing a black leather jacket... And I think her family owns a restaurant. Sorry, the details are very foggy - can anyone help?

I think you are thinking of "La Venganza Inevitable"
(orig. a book my Pérez Reverte).

In case this jogs your memory, some flamenco/gypsy culture movies are:

Vengo, Polígono Sur, Lola Vende Cá

Flamenco, Carmen, Bodas de Sangre, El Amor Brujo Sevillanas (all 5 by Saura)

Tell me if that was any help.

I meant to say "la Inevitable Venganza"

Thanks, laclaire. I tried looking up both "La Venganza Inevitable" and "La Inevitable Venganza", but didn't find anything. I did find some of the other films, but none looks like the one...

For some reason, I thought the title had something to do with a shawl. I looked up "Mantilla" but found nothing. I also thought it might have been "Gitano", but I don't think it is.

So in short, I'm totally confused. More plot details: I think the reason the girl's family is against the male character is because he is a "gitano" and they look down upon this. And I remember the film being kind of dark, in terms of the cinematography...

Just trying to remember more details. But thanks for your help!

Here is a link to the venganza movie:

http://peliculas.cine.hispavista.com/gitano/argumento

I just looked up mantón de manila and mantilla on google.es and no go.

Thanks for the link. That's not it. The male character was VERY handsome. The film that sounds the closest is actually "Lola Vende Ca"... But judging from the cover, the male character doesn't look right...

Lola vende ca is not the one. . . it is about a girl who was found at birth by a family of gypsies and adopted by them. She has identity struggles because she is not a "real" gypsy (Lola vende ca means "Lola is a gypsy" in calo, the gypsy language).

Do you remember any dance numbers in the film? Perhaps we could look for movies with real dancers in them? This is a sort of fun intellectual exercise!

I don't think there were too many dance scenes - none, actually that I recall. I think that was a very small part of it. The more I think about it, it was more about the love story and the cultural issues... This IS fun - the more I think about it, the more strained memories come back!

Ooh, I wish could help you, I know that feeling when you have a flashback of a film and want to find it but can't put your finger on it!

try searching the international movie database (www.imdb.com), you might find help there. Goof luck!

If you google Saura, you will see his many films about dancing, gypsies and it vaguely reminds me of one in the 1990's he made with Penelope Cruz.

I have no clue...can it be "Jamon, Jamon" with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem ?

I meant to say "Good" luck, not Goof luck-
I guess it's no secret that I often type in the dark in the middle of the night and don't spell check either...how goofy-

Whoa! Jamon jamon! It has been forever since I thought about that film. It has no gypsy stuff in it that I remember, but her family does own a restaurant. . .

I thought that perhaps this was an Almodovar flick, but I can't think which it would be.

neither, it was a film of Bigas Luna.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I googled Saura, Almodovar, and Bigas Luna. It's not any of the films I've found by any of those directors... not Jamon Jamon... Keep sending suggestions, if you think of anything...

Here's another summary: forbidden love story, very handsome lead actor (for some reason, I'm thinking he looks like Justin Chambers - Jennifer Lopez's goofy Italian fiance in "The Wedding Planner" - bad example, I know)... Definitely addressed the gypsy culture, which was the reason for the girl's family not approving. I know he drove a motorcycle. And I remember the film to have very dark, almost blueish-cast cinematography.

I have no idea, but this is turning into a pretty good list of Spanish movies I could rent!

Good point, Suze... I'll definitely have to check out all these other ones. I'm getting frustrated shopping on Amazon because all the foreign DVDs are formatted to European DVD players. Although it does say they're viewable on computers.

Luna is considered the Spanish Russ Meyers. Meow!

Los Tarantos ?
Filmed in Barcelona..forbidden love, gypsies...

Los tarantos is a sixties film...a bit old I think