Pride was held last week. The streets of Madrid were filled with floats, music and joy. But that fun that young people (and the not so young) now enjoy is something very recent. LGTBI people had to live in the closet during the Franco regime and also in the years of the Transition. The Law of Vagrants and Crooks punished homosexuality with prison terms.
That is why it is not at all strange that Reme, a seamstress from Seville, begins to worry, and a lot, when she realizes that her 17-year-old son Miguel is gay. This is how I am loving you madly starts, the first film by Alejandro Marín, which opens tomorrow and takes place in Seville in 1977 and narrates the collective's struggle to claim their rights at the dawn of democracy.
Reme, played by Ana Wagener, wants to avoid at all costs that her son is teased by other boys or that he is persecuted by the police. That is why she takes Miguel to a doctor who presumably cures homosexuality with electric shocks. In addition, the woman insists that the boy take the selectivity and study Law, but Miguel has come into contact with a group of young people who sing and have fun in a clandestine place and all he wants is to become a music star participating in Gente joven, a television program to discover and promote new talents.
If there is someone who clearly remembers those times, it is Armand de Fluvià, the heraldist and homosexual activist who created Casal Lambda. Marín got in touch with De Fluvià who "advised us and told us how the LGTBI collective experienced that era of vindication," explains the director in an interview with La Vanguardia. "The most striking thing is that in Seville the mobilization was done from the Archbishop's Palace," adds Marín, known for having directed the Lost Maricón series in 2021, written by Bob Pop.
I'm Loving You Madly takes place between the drama of the persecution of homosexuals and the joy of Miguel's gang, played with Omar Banana. A group of young people who perform at night and sing songs by Mari Trini, Las Grecas and other artists of the time, while during the day they fight for their rights from the Archbishop's Palace helped by a young priest, who is also Miguel's godfather.
But also at a time when homophobia persists, the film sends the message that “LGBTI rights are human rights and no one has to ask for permission or give explanations in love. Homophobes have to be explained that there is no need to be afraid and that people are unique and diverse,” adds Marín.
The casting is completed with Alba Flores, whom Marín already knew from the days of Maricón perdido, Jesús Carroza and Pepa García. Director and actors embarked on an adventure "of two weeks in Barcelona and five in Seville, in which some unforeseen events occurred, but also a lot of fun." The director recalls that "the most difficult thing was the representation of the time, because we wanted to be very rigorous and we were guided by historical photos, which we managed to imitate." "It wasn't easy to cut the Triana bridge either, but everything went well and Rigoberta Bandini put the finishing touch to this shoot with the song, I only want love, which she composed exclusively for the film."
A film that can serve to "become aware of how important acquired rights are, which now the ultra-right wants to take away from us," concludes Marín.
