[...] My idea was to make a screen
adaptation of a novel which I proposed to producer Andrés Vicente
Gómez, who told me that he didn't see it clearly. He offered me
something else instead. He said to me that he had bought the rights
of an American play that needed to be filmed very soon or else he
would lose them. He told me to read it, which I did and liked very
much. I thought that it was a classical sentimental comedy in which
the feelings of the characters are more important than any plot and
that it contained profound truths about human relationships. In a
story like that, one might humorously deal with the numerous bitter
aspects of the relationships between couples, so I told Andres I
would take it on. In the film I propose to the viewers to think as
they enjoy watching it [...]
Since the film is based on an
Anglo-Saxon work, in which there is plenty of irony, sarcasm and
hidden humor, we deemed it a good thing to replace that hidden
humor by a more Mediterranean humor, handling the issue at hand
with simplicity and leaving out the wickedness that undoubtedly
exists in relationships between couples. We thought that in this
case we could do without it.
- In the original work there are
only two characters, right?
- Yes. It was a more risky
possibility though feasible. What happens is that in the text the
two protagonists talk all the time about the rest of the characters
who are created on the basis of their dialogues. That is why it was
easy to leave them out.
FELIPE VEGA.