I am nearing the end of Season 1 and am enjoying this series, the first I've watched based in Madrid, a city I called home for three years back in the 1990s (For any one interested you can read my post "My 20- Year affair with Spain" in my blog, Ahmed's Universe where I talk about Spanish movies, among other topics). As a great lover of Madrid, who knows intimately well the Gran Via area, it is fun to see the building housing Galerias Velvet (now the Hotel Tryp Cibeles and Zara store) with the landmark Carrion building in the background.
The series is well written, recreates brilliantly the Madrid of yesteryear, the supporting roles are well described, and the acting is quite good. José Sancristan is brilliant, and Aitana Sanchez Gijon is excellent. The chemistry between Ana and Alberto (I don't know why some reviewers here call him "Roberto") works very well and sounds even more genuine when you know that they were a couple in real life.
The show, though, still leaves an overall feeling of being written for foreigners, mainly Americans, as it comes across as not very authentic. Some of the expressions I heard in a recent episode (For example "Eso es el espiritu" in Episode 14) I had never heard in Spanish and seem translated straight from English. The employees all dress in pyjamas and wear robes which for some reason I cannot associate with 1960s' working class Madrilians. Sure, the series makes a good effort at recreating cars, cocktails and clothing (the latter is hardly surprising in a show about fashion) from that time, but it never mentions the political/cultural/social circumstances of the times (Franco's name is never heard, something impossible for anybody living in Spain in the 1950s/60s.) "Mad men" did a much better job in that respect - and in a similar decade.
When Ana and her friends go out dancing, it's rock and roll and cha cha cha, which is fine, but what about sevillanas? Until late 1990s young Spaniards would always engage in flamenco dancing. You never see that in Galerias Velvet, as if it were a foreign concept. What about bullfights? That was a central part of an outing in Spain then, but you never hear or see a single character going to a "corrida" or mentioning somebody going there.
Some of the coincidences, which I will not mention here to avoid spoilers, are a bit far-fetched and would stretch your sense of (in)credulity. To mention "Mad men" again, "Galerias velevet" seems to be Spain's answer to the US show and to have been toned down or globalized to appeal to a wider audience. Pity.
The series is well written, recreates brilliantly the Madrid of yesteryear, the supporting roles are well described, and the acting is quite good. José Sancristan is brilliant, and Aitana Sanchez Gijon is excellent. The chemistry between Ana and Alberto (I don't know why some reviewers here call him "Roberto") works very well and sounds even more genuine when you know that they were a couple in real life.
The show, though, still leaves an overall feeling of being written for foreigners, mainly Americans, as it comes across as not very authentic. Some of the expressions I heard in a recent episode (For example "Eso es el espiritu" in Episode 14) I had never heard in Spanish and seem translated straight from English. The employees all dress in pyjamas and wear robes which for some reason I cannot associate with 1960s' working class Madrilians. Sure, the series makes a good effort at recreating cars, cocktails and clothing (the latter is hardly surprising in a show about fashion) from that time, but it never mentions the political/cultural/social circumstances of the times (Franco's name is never heard, something impossible for anybody living in Spain in the 1950s/60s.) "Mad men" did a much better job in that respect - and in a similar decade.
When Ana and her friends go out dancing, it's rock and roll and cha cha cha, which is fine, but what about sevillanas? Until late 1990s young Spaniards would always engage in flamenco dancing. You never see that in Galerias Velvet, as if it were a foreign concept. What about bullfights? That was a central part of an outing in Spain then, but you never hear or see a single character going to a "corrida" or mentioning somebody going there.
Some of the coincidences, which I will not mention here to avoid spoilers, are a bit far-fetched and would stretch your sense of (in)credulity. To mention "Mad men" again, "Galerias velevet" seems to be Spain's answer to the US show and to have been toned down or globalized to appeal to a wider audience. Pity.
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