Lanzarote´s dramatic scenery and surreal lavascapes have provided the backdrop for a number of major motion pictures. Most recently the latest release from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, Broken Embraces. Which stars Penelope Cruz and which showcases some of the islands best known landmarks and locations.
The island enjoys a supporting rather than starring role and as a result is unlikely to benefit from the sort of Captain Corelli effect that helped to boost tourism on the Greek holiday island of Kefalonia.
However there’s still plenty of interest in the key locations that feature in the film, which encompass the wine region of La Geria, the beach at Famara, the green lagoon at El Golfo and the wind toy Fobos – located close to the César Manrique Foundation.
Plot Outline
The main character is a screen writer called Mateo Blanco who fourteen years before, loses his sight (and Lena, the love of his life, played by Penelope Cruz) in a brutal car crash on Lanzarote. A scene filmed around Manrique´s wind toy Fobos.
After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can’t direct films he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena. Before recalling and recounting the circumstances surrounding the accident for a character called Diego, the son of his production manager.
Blanco tells Diego that he had shared his lover, a wannabe actress played by Penelope Cruz, with a wealthy and jealous industrialist. Who eventually employed a lip reader to spy on the couple –uncovering their relationship and confirming his worst suspicions.
At which point the lovers eloped to Lanzarote to escape the pressures of Madrid. Before Lena loses her life in the fatal car crash.
Lanzarote Scenes
El Golfo
The green lagoon at El Golfo planted the first seeds for the plot of Broken Embraces. Many years ago film-maker Pedro Almodóvar took a photograph of the striking black sand beach and emerald coloured landlocked lake here. And when he developed the shots he discovered a couple locked in a tight embrace, which he termed The Mystery of El Golfo.
This image niggled away at him over the following years – eventually providing the kernel of the storyline for his latest release. In which Mateo and Lena also visit this well known landmark and embrace.
La Geria Wine Region
The audience is introduced to the island with a sweeping aerial shot of the wine region of La Geria. With its distinctive and photogenic semi-circular zocos. Which are designed to help protect vines from the wind.
Similar aerial shots of the region have appeared in numerous coffee table books such as La Tierra – Vista Desde El Cielo, by Yann Arthus-Betrand. Whilst Almodovar first encountered the region when he visited the island in 1985; “I was knocked out by La Geria when I first saw it and knew that I would use it in a film one day,”
Famara
Mateo and Lena enjoy an escape on Lanzarote at the bungalows at Famara, located just above the beach. Where they enjoy a blissful stay before their holiday culminates in the tragic car crash.
Famara is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island and anyone who wants to stay in the same apartments can book accommodation here at the Bungalows Playa Famara website.
Fobos
Fobos is the largest of the many wind toys Manrique created and sited around Lanzarote. Constructed from galvanized steel and painted iron it stands13 metres tall and is a real high Impact installation.
Tragically, Manrique also lost his life in a car accident at the same roundabout in 1992. A fact Almodovar was apparently unaware of when scripting and shooting the film.
Find out more about Lanzarote on film
