Original subtitles

[booming]

[tender instrumental music]

[clock ticking]

[heavy breathing]

[crowd applauding]

- Maestro.

Maestro, have some coffee, hmm?

- Where is she?

- Who?

- What do you mean who?

- If you don't know, how should I know, Maestro?

- [Manolete] Turn on the lights.

[groans]

- Maestro, are you crazy?

You're working today!

- Oh yeah, you're right.

I'm gonna kill her. - Manolo.

Maestro!

Manolo! - Give me my keys.

- Maestro!

[tires screeching]

- Manolo.

Are you crazy?

Maestro!

Please, Maestro.

The woman you want-- - I don't want any woman.

- She's not worth it.

- How do you work this thing?

- Okay, the safety's off.

Now you pull the trigger, bang!

[man singing in Spanish]

- Go away.

- Was that Manolete?

- I can't kill her.

Maybe I should stop trying.

[mysterious music]

- [All] Manolete, Manolete!

- Maestro! - Manolete!

[coins clinking]

- Maestro, you're the greatest, Maestro!

[speaking in foreign language]

[children yelling]

[gentle piano music]

- The first time I saw Manolete,

it was at the ranch of a friend of mine,

Don Enrique de Ahumada.

I knew his family, they were all bullfighters

but they had lost their money.

I think he walked all the way from Cordoba.

The decision to become a bullfighter

is usually made on an empty stomach.

[rooster crowing]

[sighs]

This is Don Enrique de Ahumada.

And you kept him waiting.

Let's go.

[bulls mooing]

How are you feeling Manolo?

- Fine. - That's good.

Because today we are going to find out if you've got it.

- Got what?

- It.

Without it, it's impossible to fight.

- I'm not afraid.

- Ah, that's good.

Because I was.

You see what I'm doing here?

- You're nailing my feet to the ground.

- Step into the shoes of a torero.

[bright flamenco music]

What did I see in him?

To be a great torero,

a really great torero,

you have to be a little bit in love with death.

[humming]

Now I'm going to give you the three rules of Pepe Camara.

Okay?

Okay.

Number one.

Always listen to your manager.

Hmm?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Number two.

No morphine after gorings.

It's a drug.

It makes you forget about pain,

but if you take it a lot,

you'll want it all the time.

- My mother always says we're on this Earth to suffer.

- Good.

Which brings me to my third point.

No women.

- No women?

- Because women make you love life.

- Oh.

And that's bad?

- In our line of work, yes.

- And if I follow those rules,

will I be able to fight in Cordoba?

- [laughing] Cordoba!

I'll have you fighting in Madrid.

- Madrid?

- Yes.

Seville, Cordoba, Barcelona,

Madrid.

[humming]

[people shouting]

[speaking in foreign language]

Where's your girlfriend?

In the car, I suppose?

- No.

I left her.

- Good boy.

What a whore she was.

- No, she wasn't a whore.

If she was a whore, she's be with me right now.

[plaintive violin music]

- Hello?

Can I have my key please?

- Mr. Manolete already checked out.

- Shit.

What are you looking at?

- Parasites.

Look at the way they bleed him dry.

[phone ringing]

- He's calling her.

- No thank you.

Thank you.

- I take him to the chicest nightclub in Madrid,

and he wants to go back to the hotel and call his mother.

Good boy.

- That was a really beautiful woman.

- She's a whore.

- She's a whore?

Is every beautiful woman a whore, Pepe?

- No.

But that one is.

She's a singer, she's an actress,

these things, she's a whore.

Believe me, I know her.

- Then you can introduce us, huh?

- She's not for you.

- It's not for me.

- Manolo, she's trouble.

[intriguing music]

- Senor Camera.

- What?

- It's penicillin, against infection.

It's a wonder drug, senor.

- But what the hell do I do with that?

- If your Maestro gets gored and gets an infection.

- Hey hey hey, my guy is made of steel.

When he takes a horn up the ass,

he just turns on his stomach

and a week later, he asks me,

hey Pepe, when's my next fight?

- And if he gets the clap?

- Doesn't fuck, never has.

- Never?

- Never.

- That's why he fights like a girl.

[laughing]

[people talking]

- Were you going to say something?

- You're beautiful.

- Thank you.

What else?

Are you already out of ammunition?

- I think you're very pretty.

- You already said that.

What else?

What else?

Such a magnificent torero and such a boring man.

- No, it's true.

I don't understand why everyone's always

making such a fuss.

- I know why.

Butchers.

Very big in this country.

Always have been.

Because here, nothing's real until it bleeds.

Saints, bulls, women.

- You don't like bullfights?

- Bullfights are for people who are dead inside.

- Have you been to one?

- No.

- Perhaps you'd like to see me fight tomorrow.

- Maybe I'll come watch you dress.

[phone ringing]

- Mom!

Was that Lupe who just called?

- No, wrong number.

Why should I lie to you?

- Maestro.

You're fighting Dominguin this afternoon.

Are you worried?

- I'm so worried,

I just had lunch with my mother.

- Dominguin says, that he's the future and you're the past.

- Who's Dominguin?

[laughing]

- Manolo.

- Welcome to Madrid.

- Thank you.

- Maestro?

Maestro, there is a girl here.

- Tell her to fuck off.

- No no.

Let her in, please.

I invited her.

- I didn't know you guys wore stockings.

- Well.

Funny business.

- This is bad luck.

Bad luck.

- Should I go?

- No no, please.

Please stay.

Could somebody open a window, please?

- I told you I was gonna come watch you dress.

- And here you are.

- How did you get that?

- Oh, Jesus Christ.

- I think they called the priest for that one.

- [Priest] Do you repent, Manolo?

Do you repent?

- And this?

- I think perhaps the doctor had a drink.

[car honking]

- A seamstress could have done a better job.

- Sold out?

- Sold out.

- That's something.

Do we have an extra ticket for my friend?

- Of course.

- Maestro.

- We should go.

- Manolo, come on.

[clapping]

- You are the most beautiful ugly man I've ever seen.

- Hey wait, wait, wait.

Get lost.

- I'm not a whore.

- Please.

It's better for him.

[boisterous music]

[announcer speaking in foreign language]

[knocking]

[sighs]

- What happened to you?

- I had to go.

- Is this a bad time?

- What do you want?

- I came to see you.

- How did you find me?

- I went to the club

and they told me where you lived.

- Come.

Come.

[distant baby crying]

- You look wonderful.

[clears throat] It's a nice place.

- Are you kidding?

- No, it's, uh...

Very feminine.

- A very feminine shithole.

- I used to live in a place

that wasn't much bigger than this, and there were six of us.

- And look at you now.

- Oh, what's his name?

- Lola.

- Hi, Lola.

- Sit down.

Sit down.

- Why didn't you stay?

- I told you,

something came up.

But I listened to the radio.

They said you fought like an angel.

- I fought for you.

- I don't believe you.

- I did.

I didn't see you.

So I imagined you were there.

I fought for you.

- I'm sure there were lots of beautiful women there.

- Maybe.

- Sit down, you're making me nervous.

- Would you like to go to a restaurant?

- You should go to a restaurant with somebody nice.

- You know what I think?

- What do you think, torero?

- I think maybe you should think more of yourself.

- You're hungry.

I can make you something to eat.

Eggs and chorizo.

- What my mother always makes.

Perfect.

- If you look any harder, it's going to hurt.

[sassy salsa music]

- Good morning.

Hi, Lola.

- Say hi.

Hi, hi.

- You wanna go to San Sebastian?

- A dog, and a suitcase.

- Kiss my ass.

- I did, honey, you just don't remember.

- Is that true?

- I don't go with guys like him.

[cheering]

[car honking]

- You always eat like this?

- Only on the days he's not fighting.

But on working days, the Maestro doesn't eat

until after the fight.

- In case of an operation.

Stay clean inside.

- Anyway.

Now we should eat.

[laughing]

- I'm telling you, Cary Grant is.

- Ugh.

And Errol Flynn?

- Goes both ways.

[laughing]

- Captain Blood, both ways?

- Somebody told me.

[laughing]

- What's both ways?

- How about Gary Cooper?

- What's both ways?

- Maestro, you don't wanna know.

- I thought I told you to get lost.

- I did.

But I was found.

- Isn't she great?

- She's wonderful, Maestro.

- Mmm.

And a good cook.

- That too.

[laughing]

- I don't know when to applaud.

- Just applaud the emotion.

- What emotion?

- Just applaud the emotion.

You're not feeling it?

- No.

- May I show you something?

- What?

- It's a little game that I play with the bull.

After 20 passes,

he starts looking at my ankles.

A few more.

He's looking at my knees.

A few more.

He sees me.

That's when it gets fascinating.

- You really are

the most beautiful ugly man I've ever seen.

- I could see how you could get a little overexcited

about this kind of activity.

- Hurt me.

- What?

[children shouting]

- Hello, matador.

- May I introduce my friend, Messino.

- Hi, nice to meet you.

- No no, nice to meet you.

Welcome to my house. - Thank you.

- Come in please.

Hey, Pepe.

[gentle guitar music]

- I'm fat.

- No, you look great.

- I look fat.

- You don't.

- All those dinners.

- You have to eat.

- Manolo, I can't.

I can't just be your girl.

- What?

- I am your girl, but I'm not some canary in a cage.

- Stay with me.

Stay a little while longer.

- Manolo.

Look at this.

They're offering good money.

Really good money.

- What if we go somewhere completely different?

[announcer speaking in foreign language]

[clapping]

[people chanting]

- Haven't you noticed?

I'm a lady now.

- You've always been a lady.

I love you, mamita.

- And I love you, papito.

- Marry me.

- You should marry a nice girl.

- You are a nice girl.

You're a very nice girl.

Nicest girl I've ever met.

- I will marry you when your mother asks for my hand.

Hey.

Don't be like that.

I belong to you because I don't belong to you.

- That means you don't wanna marry me.

- But you can do things with me

that you could never do with your wife.

- Are you happy we came?

- I love it here.

- Maybe we should stay.

- You mean live here?

- Why not?

They're bored with me.

- And I could eat tamales and get fat

and have lots of babies, and call you papito.

- That's great, mamita.

- What are you doing?

[cheering]

[pensive dramatic music]

What's wrong?

- I dreamt I was dead.

- You know what that means.

- What does that mean?

- It means you will live forever.

You always dream the opposite of what happens in life.

- I never heard that before.

- It's true.

Everyone knows it.

- Really?

- Really.

- Leave it on a little bit.

- You afraid of the dark?

Manolo, you're freezing.

Should I call a doctor?

- No, I'm not sick.

- Then what is it?

- I think I might be a little nervous, that's all.

Now you see me how I really am.

- And now I love you twice as much, papito.

I thought you were born brave.

- No.

I was born not to care.

- When you feel like this,

do I help,

or do I make it worse?

- You do both.

You didn't do it with Pepe, did you?

- I only like beautiful people.

- What are you doing with me?

- You are my piece of the sun.

[dramatic music]

- Lie down, Maestro.

The wind makes the capes fly.

- Guillermo, Pepe should cancel it.

He can't go out like this.

- Hey, once he's dressed, he's okay.

Remember, to fight when you are not afraid is nothing.

Not to fight when you're afraid is also nothing.

But to fight when you're afraid,

that's everything.

- What are you two on about?

- You should get out of this.

- This is all I know.

- Please Manolo, get out of this, please.

You are great, you are the greatest.

What more do you want?

- What about my mother?

- Your mother, your mother is rich.

- Yeah, what about my sisters?

- You brought them husbands.

Let them work for a living like everyone else.

- What about Pepe?

- He has done very well for himself.

- Hey, what about me?

- Please angel.

Let's make a baby.

Let's be happy.

It's allowed, you know?

To be happy.

And married, if that's what you want.

- What'll I be, if I retire?

- You are so afraid of death,

you are falling in love with it.

What's the point in marrying you?

I'm just your mistress.

Death is your wife.

- You're lucky I fight when you talk to me this way.

[people shouting]

[clapping]

- You nearly lost the crown jewels.

- What do you care?

- I care.

Why don't you rest a while?

- Why don't you shut the fuck up?

- I didn't know you knew such language.

- There's a lot of things that I know.

Don't touch me, where were you?

- Outside.

Having a drink.

- With whom?

- With someone amusing.

- Amusing.

What made him so amusing?

Hmm?

Tell me, I would like to learn how to be amusing.

What's his secret?

- For one, he doesn't want to die.

- I didn't hear you.

- He doesn't want to die.

- You think I wanna die?

Is that what you think, you stupid cow?

- Yes.

And that's one thing I cannot compete with.

- You!

You made me wanna die.

You.

When I saw you meet with him, I wanted to die.

- We just went for a drink.

- Just a drink?

When have you ever

just had a drink?

Fucking whore.

Now I know why they're all laughing at me.

- Goodbye.

- Yeah, where you going?

Where are you going?

- Away from you!

[screams]

[crashing]

What, do you wanna hit me?

Hit me.

- That's what you like, isn't it?

- Hit me.

- That's what you like.

- You can't even hit me.

[sobbing]

You're bleeding.

- Of course I'm bleeding.

- You're really, really bleeding.

- Oh shit.

[groaning]

- I'll get the doctor.

- Stay with me.

Fuck it, just stay with me please.

Mamita, please.

Stay with me.

Please.

Please.

Please.

- Always.

But not all the time.

[speaking in foreign language]

How was it?

- Really good.

- Thank you.

Hello.

- Yes, I know that girl.

She's a communist.

Yes, I'm sure.

The girl with Manolete.

- This is a very delicate situation.

Because the man who denounced her is right.

She was a communist.

And she might very well still be a communist.

- General, I assure you that.

- Are you sure you know everything about this woman?

For instance, do you know

her real name is Antonia Branchales?

That she has a past.

Did you know she was married before to a Mexican?

A communist in the Republican Army?

- I didn't know you were married before.

- They said I'm under your protection.

- Just a formality.

- [Reporter] You are fighting Dominguin

in the mid-afternoon.

Are you worried?

- [Manolete] I'm so worried,

I had lunch with my mother.

- [Reporter] Dominguin says that

he's the future and you're the past.

- [Manolete] Who's Dominguin?

[laughing]

[people shouting]

- What do you think?

- I think he's amusing.

- You know I can cancel.

- It's not about what you do on a good day.

It's what you do on a bad day.

[people shouting]

- Maestro, Maestro.

[murmuring]

- Mother of God, forgive me for my sins.

Let me live for another day.

Amen.

[hooves stomping]

[people shouting]

[clapping]

[pensive dramatic music]

[clapping]

- Now she'll lose number one.

- Okay.

You wanna get killed,

get killed in Madrid.

Don't get killed in Linares.

[clapping]

- Don't push.

[trumpet music]

[clapping]

[banging]

- That's never good.

- I know.

[banging]

[panting]

[clapping]

[gasping]

[clapping]

[regal horn music]

[clapping]

[slow dramatic music] [heartbeat pounding]

[sobs]

- Oh, God.

Oh God, mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

[moaning]

[heavy breathing]

Don't ever tell anyone that I call you this.

Don't ever tell anyone.

- I would never do that to you.

Never.

- He's crazy!

I never wanted this, never!

- May I have my sword please?

- Maestro, no.

- Sword.

One life is enough.

- [screaming] No, no, no!

[crowd roaring]

- Leave me.

- Open the fucking gate!

- Jesus!

- Asshole!

Can't you close the room.

Come on!

Call a doctor from Madrid.

- Step back!

[people shouting]

[emotional guitar music]

- Good news.

Do you remember the doctor who fought the priest?

He's coming.

- No priests.

They frighten me.

- Doctor, not priest.

For God's sake, keep her out.

- How is he?

- Not good.

- Pepe, I need to see him.

- Wait.

- Please.

- Wait.

Please.

- She wants to see him.

She wants to see him.

- Only if he asks for her.

- Pepe.

Has he asked for me?

- Just for his mother.

- How?

How is he calling for her?

- He's calling for his mother, believe me.

- Mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

Mamita.

Please.

- I killed him, didn't I?

- No.

We all did.

- I feel so light.

Doctor, I can't see.

[bell tolls]

[people shouting]

[sorrowful music]

["Mamita" by Buika]