Jamón Jamón

Bigas Lunas cannot escape the influence of Pedro Almodóvar, whose melodramatic and absurd comedies Jamón Jamón takes after. The film is set in a dreary region where everyone seems to know everyone. The beautiful Silvia becomes pregnant by her boyfriend José Luis, who immediately declares himself ready to marry her. The trouble is that José Luis' parents own the area's only sizeable employer, the Sansom underpants factory. The mother, Conchita, stubbornly opposes the engagement, as Silvia is the daughter of a whore, and the whore Carmen at that, whom her husband Manuel has frequented. What Conchita does not know is that the son has followed in his father's footsteps. José Luis is so tied to his mother's apron strings that he cannot make a decision. Besides, he is a wimp. Conchita wants to be on the safe side, so she hires the hormone bomb Raúl from the ham factory as an underwear model and to take Silvia's mind off things. It succeeds beyond all expectations, but in the meantime Conchita herself has become rather keen on Raúl, and then the problems start! Jamón Jamón has a rather bizarre ending that suits the film's boundary-crossing morality well.

Jamón Jamón is about people driven by their urges. Even Conchita's ambitions and cunning plans are worth nothing once she falls for Raúl. The film seems typical of modern Spanish cinema, where passions and a ravenous appetite for power, food and sex reign supreme. The film knows no moderation and is on the verge of being too much, but its colourful universe entertains and amuses.