| Lady in Ermine | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Eusebio Fernández Ardavín |
| Written by | Luis Fernández Ardavín (play) Rafael Gil |
| Starring | Lina Yegros Jorge Mistral Alicia Palacios |
| Cinematography | Manuel Berenguer |
| Edited by | Gaby Peñalba |
| Music by | Jesús García Leoz |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Suevia Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
Lady in Ermine (Spanish:La dama del armiño) is a 1947 Spanishhistoricaldrama film directed byEusebio Fernández Ardavín and starringLina Yegros,Jorge Mistral andAlicia Palacios.[1] It is based ona 1922 play [es] by his brother Luis, which portrays a fictitious relationship between the daughter of the painterEl Greco and a youngJewishgoldsmith in sixteenth centuryToledo.
The film was made bySuevia Films, one of the dominant Spanish production companies of the era. It was shot at theSevilla Film Studios inMadrid, with sets designed by theart directorEnrique Alarcón.
During the reign ofPhilip II of Spain, Catalina poses inermine furs for his father, who is paintingLady in a Fur Wrap.Jews Samuel the young, Abraham and Job go to theCorpus Christi procession inToledo, Spain to admire themonstrance.They feign being Christians to be inconspicuous.When the Theotokopouloses go to the windows to venerate thebody of Christ, Samuel sees Catalina and falls in love with her.Don Luis courts Catalina but is barely tolerated.The old painter wants to reward his daughter with a jewel and sends her and Gregoria to the workshop of both Samuels.Don Luis leaves Catalina and Gregoria at the shop, where they meet Samuel the young, who gallantly woos her.Since Don Luis did not make his appointment to escort them home, Samuel takes the women there.When he returns, he praises Catalina, ignoring the love of Jarifa.He claims to believe in his art rather than any god.Andrés feels outraged and quits the workshop.
Don Luis is displeased that the ladies have left and quarrels with Samuel.They fight and Don Luis takes the worst wounds.Andrés denounces Samuel to the Inquisition for attempting the murder of a Christian noble.
Samuel and Catalina know that the religion is a barrier for their love.Samuel visits El Greco's house so that he and Catalina can choose a jewel.Meanwhile, the Inquisition takes Samuel the old prisoner and go to El Greco's house to find his son.Catalina hides Samuel in her room through the night when they fell to temptation.Gregoria arranges for Samuel to escape to Lisbon but, when he hears that his father is in prison, he returns to Toledo and is arrested.His father is released but dies soon.Samuel has started to accept Christianity out of love for Catalina.He is instructed by Friar Paravicino, who has become his lawyer.Don Luis's declaration before the Inquisition does not help Samuel in spite of Catalina's requests.The chief inquisitor poses forhis portrait and hears Catalina's plaint.Samuel is baptized and works in the prison to make a magnificent monstrance.
Another Corpus feast arrives.El Greco, Paravicino and Don Luis gather in the painter's house anticipating Catalina's joy.When the procession passes before the house, everybody admires the new monstrance. A free Samuel leaves the procession to embrace Catalina.Jarifa sees them from a distance and disappears leaving a lamp by a well.
The existence of a daughter of El Greco is not documented.The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.[2]Any Jews in Spain were either illegal aliens or lapsedConversos to be punished by theSpanish Inquisition, not a tolerated minority as depicted in the film.
There is a novel titledLady in Ermine: The Story of a Woman Who Painted the Renaissance (2019), about the life of Renaissance artistSofonisba Anguissola, by Donna DiGiuseppe
La película, justamente criticada por su antisemitismo -que parte, además, del anacronismo de recrear un Toledo poblado por judíos en época del cardenal Niño de Guevara, cuando había transcurrido ya más de medio siglo desde su expulsión-,[The film, fairly criticized for its anti-Semitism -rooted, besides, in the anachronism of recreating a Toledo populated by Jews in the times of Cardinal Niño de Guevara, when more than a half century had passed since their expulsion-,]