Spanish cinema also has its own version of the classic NavkovThe mischief and naive maturity that the actress exuded Maria Valverde They turned her into, with only 16 years oldthe perfect protagonist to adapt to the cinema The weakness of the Bolshevik, Lorenzo Silva’s novel that Manuel Martín Cuenca brought to the big screen in 2004 and with which the actress achieved the Goya for Best New Actress. Chosen by the director himself, after a casting in which more than 3,000 girls from all over Spain participated, Valverde shone with her own light in the role of that young “Lolita”, the undisputed protagonist of the film along with Luis Tosar.
Since Sue Lyon put a face to the character of Nabokov in the movie of Stanley Kubrikthe cinema has been seduced by the so-called lolitas. A kind of femme fatalewith a sweet face and apparent maturity. Half girl, half woman. From classic cinema to the 90s, with actresses like Liv Tyler in Stolen Beauty o Natalie Portman a Beautiful Girls have shaped the idea that we have of being a Lolita on the big screen. In our cinema, before the appearance of Valverde in The weakness of the Bolshevikera Maribel Verdu who was labeled as such. Nowadays, the view of these characters has changed because the cinema may have distorted in a certain way that image of Lolita as a provocateur of man’s desire. Vladimir Nabokov himself stated that: “Lolita is not perverse, she is a child who is corrupted (…). Lolita, the nymphet, only exists through the obsession that destroys Humbert”.
Maria Valverde and Luis Tosar in ‘The weakness of the Bolshevik’
In The weakness of the Bolshevik That tragedy is also present. The story of a bored man (Luis Tosar) of his life that one day, after an accidental car accident, he meets a young woman who will change everything. A fifteen-year-old girl (Maria Valverde) who manages to rescue what he thought was lost. Paying attention to the details and gestures, Manuel Martín Cuenca weaves the internal process of each character. Close-ups, simple dialogues and an incredible portrait of Madrid from that early 2000s. A relationship through which he speaks to us of fascination and loneliness, but also of classless love and escape from the world.
The surprising debut of the Spanish “Lolita”
The film marked the dazzling appearance of a new face and a new talent in Spanish cinema. The credits of the film already warn us of this, this is the presentation of Maria Valverde. At the time, a young woman of only 15 years old, when she shot the film. Before making her debut in The weakness of the BolshevikThe actress from the Madrid neighborhood of Carabanchel had participated in some family plays performed by one of her cousins and made some forays into advertising.
It wasn’t until 2002encouraged by her parents, fundamental pillars in her beginnings in the cinema, she decided to sign up for the casting of the film. That year, Manuel Martín Cuenca chose her from among more than 3,000 young people to star in the film that would become her debut alongside Luis Tosar and a year later she won the Goya for Best New ActressThe world of cinema was not part of his family history.
Maria Valderde, 15 years old, in ‘The weakness of the Bolshevik’
His Goya in 2004 from Rossy de Palma
Following the predictions, the critics’ favorite ended up taking home the Goya for Best New Actress at the 18th edition of the awards. With some verses by Miguel Hernández, Rossy de Palma and Daniel Freire gave way to the winner. A very emotional María Valverde who could hardly articulate a word.My dream was to make a movie, not this. Everything has gone a little bit beyond what I imagined.“, said the actress. An award she dedicated to all the people who had taught her and to her family, who were very present in her beginnings and whose parents accompanied her on her first shoots. The film also won in the section Zabaltegi of the 51st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festivalny won the jury prize at the Angers International Film Festival (France).
The takeoff of her acting career
Endorsed by the Goya, the actress’s career took off, but after this Valverde complained that, for a while, she was only offered roles in the “Lolita” category and that was a path she did not want to follow. Despite her youth, María manages to imprint a very powerful force on her character, endowing her with sweetness and mystery.
After The weakness of the Bolshevikother proposals arrived such as Melissa P.by Luca Guadagnino, in which she played a young prostitute, but soon decided to reject roles that pigeonholed her as another young lolita. In 2009, she was placed under the orders of Irish director Jordan Scott in Crackshis first foreign film, but his real leap to fame would come with Three meters above the skyin 2010, alongside Mario Casas, with whom she would repeat in Tengo ganas de ti and La mula. David Trueba, Kike Maillo or the great Ridley Scott have also worked with her.
Extremoduro and a traffic jam
Not all actors can boast that their debut on the big screen had such a powerful soundtrack as the one they had. The weakness of the Bolshevik. The songs from Extremo duro are sprinkled throughout several key scenes in the film and are key to understanding the emotional state of the characters. Who can forget that start, in the middle of a traffic jam, while Tosar listens to Puta at full volume? A very powerful moment that is repeated again almost at the end of the film when the song Standby o On fireDon’t miss it! Now available on RTVE Play.
