Yerma (1985)

Genres - Drama  |   Run Time - 107 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Eleanor Mannikka

Yerma is one of a trilogy of tragedies written by the great Spanish poet and dramatist, Federico Garcia Lorca, and it tells the story of the psychological transformation of a young woman who ardently desires to have a child but is not only frustrated in her desire, she transforms it into hatred. This rather stilted Hungarian co-production with West Germany and Canada stars Gudrun Landgrebe as Yerma, the tragic heroine and Titiusz Kovacs as her cold-hearted husband. After Yerma's acquaintances assure her that the reason she cannot become pregnant may be due more to her husband than herself, the woman's mind, already unstable, looks at her unfeeling spouse from a different and increasingly angry perspective. The scenery of rural Spain plays such a large role in this tragedy that for some viewers at least, the landscape may deflect attention from the development of Yerma's story. There is also a later Spanish version of Yerma, in production in 1998.