The Ferpect Crime (2004)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Expected more

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

El Crimen Ferpecto was viewed at the 2006 Valladolid film Festival in Spain. Director: Alex de la Iglesia. Stars Guillermo Toledo and Monica Cervera. A sidesplitter about a skirt chaser who works as a salesman in the women's wear section of an upscale department store and is bucking for the job of floor manager. Rafael is not only the best salesman in the biggest department store in Madrid but an irresistible lady's man whose female colleagues cannot get enough of. His philosophy of life is live it to the hilt and get laid as much as possible. But he is an ambitious go getter as well and aspires to be the new head of sales on his floor. However, to do so he has to beat out Don Antonio a surly veteran top salesman who has much more seniority. The competition between them gets more and more acrid until Rafael accidentally kills Don Antonio in a scuffle inside a changing booth. Lourdes, the ugliest woman in the store, the only witness to the event, volunteers to help Rafael hide the corpse. After much bungling they manage to dispose of the body in the store incinerator. He's now in the clear except for Lourdes who is in love with him and threatens to expose him unless he marries her. No buts and ifs about it!To save his skin he goes through with a most unwelcome wedding but now he has to figure out a way to get rid of her ... another "perfect crime"? -- as ghastly visions of Don Antonio with a knife protruding from his green head come back to haunt him regularly -- Because of the bungling all around the director purposely misspells the Perfecto (perfect) of the title so it becomes "Ferpecto" -- and the Perfect Crime becomes most imperfect.-A super hilarious black comedy from start to finish with plenty of subliminal social commentary embedded in the madness and deliciously sly rib-tickling work by actor Guillermo Toledo. One of the funniest films I have ever seen and Toledo's Rafael is one for the all-time comic record books. In any case a perfect madcap comedy with a side splitter every other minute. All supporting roles uniformly brilliant, notably Monica Cervera as the unwanted blackmailing bride. A black comedic masterpiece. Ten stars and no complaints.

Outrageous movie with odd characters , surreal imagery and twisted plot . Rafael is the best salesman in the biggest mall of Madrid called Yeyo's , a Corte Ingles-alike . He is an attractive man; all his colleagues fell in love for him . He attempts to live high-standard existence . He is definitively mean and aspires to be the new head of sales at his department store . As the ambitious playboy named Rafael ( Guillermo Toledo) and his contender (Luis Varela) are two salesmen who reach the heights of success with their jobs , but a chief-vacancy turning them into deadly enemies . However , the hate between them grows as fast, and as much, as their strong facing off and there takes place a murder . Lourdes (Monica Cordero) , the ugliest woman in the floor , unexpectedly helps Rafael to hide the corpse , but her help isn't for free . It all ends with a breathtaking and operatic duel in a downward spiral of madness . Alex De la Iglesia is an excellent Spanish director . He had much success as "Accion Mutante" , " El Dia De la Bestia" , "Perlita Durango" and ¨La Comunidad¨ , among others . De la Iglesia is back with a tragical comedy about an ambitious man pursued and blackmailed by a bad woman . Here deals with a homage to dark humor and a typical Spanish story in which there are comedy, tongue-in-cheek , humor, killings, action, drama and is pretty entertaining . It's an exaggerated drama/comedy giving the perfect tone through the entire film , you can either follow it or just wander about the ridiculousness of every single minute . Some may regard this kind of dramatic comedy dull or dumb , but the truth is its the most simple , minimalistic, rawest, and pretentious comedy you will ever watch .This is a full-on surreal psychotronic black-comedy that blends thrills , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of dark humor , drama and exciting situations . Packed with scenes of absurd nature, this story is a fantastic farce, as we follow the ridiculous careers of a pair of salesmen whose destination is dictated by a superior promotion, rather than by their own decisions , it is inter-weaved by the appearance a third character , a rogue and selfish girl . The narration is so filled with colorful characters , nutty comedy, crazy violence mixed with comedy or with surreal elements and an underlying sense of tragicomedy, and it is so excessive and plenty of surprises, one can't help but keep watching, much as it is over the top in many an occasion. The film works on various levels and is constantly reconfigured , however contains some embarrassing , contriving moments and also certain excess . Alex De La Iglesia has created a picture here that in all honesty is very difficult to categorise in terms of genre , as there's a little bit of action , quite a lot of comedy, a good deal of suspense and a host of extreme gruesomeness ; but it does not fit into any one genre very well at all, in truth this is one of the things that makes it good . Acting personnel all do excellent work in bizarre roles. But special notice needs to be made for Monica Cordero for also being quite ridiculously role throughout . Strong performance from three protagonists Guillermo Toledo , Monica Cordero and Luis Varela and excellent plethora of secondaries as Fernando Tejero , Javier Gutierrez , Rosario Pardo, Enrique Villen and a gorgeous Kika Miro . Interesting screenplay Alex De La Iglesia and Javier Guerricaechevarria who usually work united . Atmospheric and glimmer cinematography by Jose L Moreno with a good camera work . Suspenseful musical score by Roque Baños , the soundtrack flows great with the film in every way, and creates fantastic atmospheres in every moment. The motion picture is well directed by De La Iglesia . He's a cool director has got much success as ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ and ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨ and winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers . Nonsense, ridicule , laughters , absurdity , disturbing scenes .. and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . The movie is a lot of fun, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for dark humor buffs and Alex De Iglesia fans.

Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) is a Casanova and makes no apologies for it. Having worked in retail for a department store similar to Macy's (YeYo's) he is the Lord of the women's section, a male stud who without being dashing manages to sweep the girls who work there -- and clients -- right off their feet and into sublime desire. We're introduced to him via a staging of a botched sale. Two men enter an all-white stage and playact what would be an angry, difficult client wanting to get something and the salesman who doesn't have the skills to handle him. Then it reverts to the man who is head of an unknown company, and his telling of how no wonder their sales are kaput: they've got a total lack of the ability to convince that the product is worth buying.Enter Rafael. The opening sequence describes all we need to know of who he is. He is a male chauvinist pig who lives in a messy bachelor pad. He struts with the cockiness of a man who owns it all, who's on top of the world. He steals the morning paper from the newsstand and kisses from the passing girl. He aspires to live the high life drenched in luxuries and babes left and right. He works as a salesman at the women's department and has his pick of the lot of the salesgirls, all babes, and the occasional female client whom he seduces into purchasing items from the store. As a matter of fact, to his admission (in a hilarious sex scene) born there: it's his home, who he is.But he has one enemy. One man who can't stand him and marinates in envy at Rafael's apparent success. Don Antonio Fraguas (Luis Varela) is one of those salesmen who have worked all their lives as such and are next in line, via seniority, to achieve the upper realms of management. He's not a nice person by any standards. If there were any other word to describe him, it would be a stuffed old curmudgeon.Both Rafael and Don Antonio, on the death of their supervisor, are competing to be the next floor manager. On the morning where the overall sales of both men will determine who rules the floor, the doors are opened and a flood of people storm the store as if the world were about to go to hell. Rafael seduces a woman -- a difficult buyer -- into getting a lovely mink coat as if he were making love to her. When numbers tally up, Rafael comes up the winner. Or so it seems.A reversal of events take place due to a bad check from Rafael's female client and Don Antonio becomes the floor manager and immediately unleashes his hatred upon Rafael. Things reach a head, Rafael gets fired, they have a fistfight inside one of the fitting rooms... and Don Antonio winds up very dead. And then disappears. And someone knows. And it's the last person anyone would have suspected: the ugly girl whom Rafael has ignored. Lourdes (Monica Cervera). And to top it off... she has an agenda of her own.EL CRIMEN FERPECTO is a clever comedy in the style of early Almodovar, without the sexual reversals. Where Rafael drives the first half of the story, it's Lourdes who makes a powerful transition from invisible frump to monster who holds the cards that can make or break Rafael. Alex de la Iglesia could have made a much different story in which the meat of the plot would have resolved itself in the course of a couple of nights. However in bringing forth Lourdes as a psycho in her own right -- think Alex Forrest, but likable -- who functions as the one who brings Rafael down to Earth while coming into her own, he turns EL CRIMEN FERPECTO into a tale of crazy feminism that sides with those who are ignored by today's beauty obsessed society. A movie that starts and ends in a virtual bang if it's a little too long here and there, this is a growling battle of the sexes with a delicious turning of tables.

De la Iglesia has come up with a pastiche of good ideas from pre-existing, classic movies, and stuck them together into "El crimen ferpecto". The gaudy sets and primary colors are a dead ringer for Almodovar movies, the cops with their mannerisms are pure Hitchcock, and the ending is a straight rip-off from Fellini's "8 1/2"---the only missing thing there is Nino Rota's score, although they substituted that by something equivalent.The result is a movie that you will have a good time watching, but about which you'll forget all 2 days later.On the positive side, it's a funny dark comedy. On the negative side, it loses *a lot* of steam in the second half, and the numerous imitations of other directors yield a disjointed end result---like expecting to get a working animal if you grab one part (even the best part) from many others and then put them together haphazardly.