TORRENT, ANA

(1966- )

Ana Torrent will always be remembered as the watchful, lonely child at the center ofVíctorErice'sEl espíritu de la colmena(The Spirit of the Beehive, 1973) and, later, inCarlosSaura'sCría Cuervos(Raise Ravens, 1976). Both films are constructed around her searching, uncomprehending gaze, as she replaces a reality that does not make sense with dark imaginings (of finding Frankenstein's monster, of killing her father and her aunt). She was also in Saura'sElisa, vida mía(Elisa, Life of My Life, 1977) and grew up on screen as the teenage object of desire of a mature man in the Academy Award-nominatedEl nido(The Nest,Jaime de Armiñán, 1980).This role earned her international attention (and an award at the Montreal Film Festival), but was the last for a decade. She went to New York and trained seriously as an actress before returning to Spanish cinema.

Torrent's quiet, unemotional presence was put to effective use inVacas(Cows,Julio Medem, 1991), in which she plays the adulterous wife who ends up leaving for America, and, especially, inAlejandroAmenábar'sTesis(Dissertation, 1996). Her part in this film, as an undergraduate who, in the course of work for her dissertation, becomes fascinated by snuff movies, brought intriguing echoes of her early career (as if the attentive girl had grown into a voyeur) and put to good use her empty expression. From the mid-1990s, she has been a recurring supporting presence in a series of films andtelevisionseries, including a strong leading role inYoyes(Helena Taberna, 2000), based on the real life-story of a terrorist, and substantial appearances inSagitario(Sagitarius, Vicente Molina-Foix, 2001),The Other Boleyn Girl(Justin Chadwick, 2008), and14 Fabian Road(Jaime de Armiñán, 2008).