Carmen

Carmen is a 2003 Spanish drama film directed by Vicente Aranda. The script was written by Aranda and Joaquim Jordà adapting the classic romance of the same name by Prosper Mérimée. Director Vicente Aranda based the plot on Mérimée's original 1847 novella about jealousy and passion, not its famous operatic adaptation by Bizet from 1875, changing some details about the love story between Carmen (Paz Vega) and José (Leonardo Sbaraglia). As in the novella, author Mérimée (Jay Benedict) is portrayed as a French writer who finds the "real" Carmen in early 19th century Spain. Plot While traveling through Andalusia, Spain in 1830, Prosper Mérimée, a French writer, meets José, a wanted criminal. José ends up condemned to death by garroting. The day before José is going to be executed, Mérimée, who has befriended the bandit, visits him in prison. From his jail cell, José begins to narrate his tragic story to the sympathetic writer. José Lizarrabengoa, a serious and proper Basque sergeant in the Spanish army, is stationed in Córdoba. Next to his military headquarters there is a cigar factory where Carmen, a sultry young woman, works. Half gipsy half witch, Carmen is beautiful, flirtatious and has a tempestuous temper. During an argument instigated by Fernanda, a fellow factory worker who has called her gipsy, Carmen retaliates against her rival by slashing Fernanda's face with a knife. Carmen is arrested and José is left in charge of her custody. On the way to prison, Carmen flirts with José and he consents to allow her to escape - his payback is the promise for a night of passion with her. José's breach of military discipline results in his losing his rank and being imprisoned for a while. Carmen keeps her pact, providing José with his first sexual encounter. He is dazzled with the sexual delight to which she introduces him and he can't keep her out of his mind. José encounters Carmen again while he is in Seville guarding the entrance to the city. Carmen seduces him once more. José turns a blind eye to Carmen's smuggler friends, allowing them to pass his post and, as a reward, she pays him with sex. Without her work at the factory, Carmen is now not only part of a ring of smugglers but supplements her income by prostitution. Blanca, the experienced madame who runs the house Carmen uses for her sexual encounters, warns José against Carmen. Carmen has a shady past and a devilish nature, but it is too late for José. He is already deeply in love.