Main Street

Main Street is considered Juan Antonio Bardem's finest film - critics praise it for achieving the most perfect balance between aesthetic and thematic elements. It is based on the one-act play Miss Trevélez (1916) by Carlos Arniches, a sainete. The plot follows the fate of an old spinster who becomes the target of cruel pranks by the male inhabitants of a provincial town.

Thanks to the "harmless" source material, Bardem was able to make the film as a French-Spanish co-production. Complications arose in 1956 when the director - a sworn opponent of Francoism - was arrested for participating in riots in Palencia. French filmmaker André Cayatte came to his defense, and international involvement in the production contributed to his release.

The film was completed on schedule and entered the Venice competition despite Spanish government opposition. It won the Critics' Prize and a Special Jury Prize for lead actress Betsy Blair - the jury included Luchino Visconti, John Grierson, and André Bazin among others. The Spanish premiere was delayed until December 1956, and a vicious campaign soon erupted: Bardem was accused of copying Fellini's I Vitelloni, which was merely an awkward cover for the real reason - the film's symbolic meaning, which displeased the authorities.