Vicente Aranda and his collaborators took liberties when they decided to base their film on the tragic figure of Juana, a Spanish princess, the daughter of the Catholic Kings of Spain. Leave it to Mr. Aranda's feverish imagination, and he will have the viewer thinking this young woman was a nymphomaniac of epic proportions. Historically this film is incorrect as it's derailed by the sexual context Mr. Aranda gave the movie.
When Juana is sent to Flandes to marry Phillip, little prepared the young and sheltered woman to find a man who was, above all, a womanizer and a libertine, who took his pleasure wherever he could find. He captivates Juana with his good looks and bed manners. In fact, Phillip's nickname was "the handsome", something that comes across in the way this vain man acts throughout his life.
Pilar Lopez Ayala, who plays the leading role, shows some passionate moments in the way she portraits the tragic Juana. Danielle Liotti, is seen as Phillip. Eloy Azorin appears as Alvaro and Giuliano Gemma is DeVeyre, Phillip's right hand man.
When Juana is sent to Flandes to marry Phillip, little prepared the young and sheltered woman to find a man who was, above all, a womanizer and a libertine, who took his pleasure wherever he could find. He captivates Juana with his good looks and bed manners. In fact, Phillip's nickname was "the handsome", something that comes across in the way this vain man acts throughout his life.
Pilar Lopez Ayala, who plays the leading role, shows some passionate moments in the way she portraits the tragic Juana. Danielle Liotti, is seen as Phillip. Eloy Azorin appears as Alvaro and Giuliano Gemma is DeVeyre, Phillip's right hand man.