I was recommended Velvet, about fashion designers in Spain: beefcake and a gay character (implied, not out, since it's set in the 1960s). But ok, I could use some Devil Wears Prada combined with Carnaby Street grooviness.
We don't hear their conversation. Suddenly Alberto is back at the party, getting mobbed by women desperate to tear his clothes off (apparently he's "every woman's fantasy"). But he rebuffs them. Until he sees the Girl of his Dreams, suddenly understands that the meaning of life is to gaze into her eyes, and gets onto the elevator to stalk her. She rebuffs him until they are alone in the elevator -- then they start smooching. (That was a fast seduction). She returns to her working-class apartment, says goodbye to her mousy roommate, and runs away with him (a very fast seduction!).
While driving, Alberto says "Do you trust me?" When she says "yes," he instantly veers the car off the road and crashes. Hey, he did that on purpose!
About 10 minutes of closeups of her bloody face and breasts.
Beefcake: None
Scene 2: Twenty years before. Carmen's funeral. So the running-away together scene was 20 years in the past, and the return after a long absence is in the present? But Alberto doesn't look like he is in his 40s.. And why does he have a scar, as if the accident happened recently?
A priest tells Dead Girlfriend's sister Ana that she has to go to live with her Uncle, who owns a big fashion store. Wait -- if she's the sister of Alberto's girlfriend, how is Alberto's father her uncle?
She arrives at the capital. Lots of people in 1940s hats. Alberto's Dad picks her up. He leads her into the store, past all the dressmakers. She is mesmerized.
Ulp -- she's staying on a crappy fold-out cot in the servants' quarters. The guy picking her up was a servant, not her rich Uncle after all. So why do they look alike? To confuse viewers!
Scene 3: Uh-oh, a little boy sees Ana. He stares, suddenly realizing that the meaning of life is gazing into her eyes forever, then begins a seduction involving peppering her with paper airplanes. They sneak off to smooch. Ugh! I hate little kid-romances. You can display hetero-horny toddlers, but God forbid you show any gay characters under age 35.
I fast-forward through a bajillion scenes of them kissing at various stages of childhood, until finally Dad finds out and blows his top: "How can you date a...ugh..,poor person? They're vile vermin, worse than animals!" A tiny bit elitist, aren't you, Dad?
Ok, I got this all wrong. Ana is growing up to be the Dead Girlfriend. The priest was wrong about her rich Uncle -- he's a servant, not the owner of the story. So wh othe heck is Carmen, and why have her funeral immediately after the girlfriend's death, except to confuse the viewers?
Scene 4: Ana gets a job as a dressmaker at the store. The head dressmaker, Doña Blanca, constantly stnipes at her: "Your work is garbage! You have no talent! Everything you do is wrong! You are utterly worthless."
Switch to the real Rich Store Owner and his wife discussing Alberto, who was sent away to school to keep him from the guttersnipe. He's a rebel, a wild child, constantly getting into jams, but Dad wants him to take over the company. "Why not your daughter Patricia instead?" Wife asks. "She's studied business, and she knows the store inside and out." "Nope! Out of the question! She's a woman, so how could she possibly know anything about fashion?"
Scene 6: Alberto arrives from school and getting into trouble abroad. He gets on an elevator full of women, all of whom look like they want to perform fellatio on the spot.
Meanwhile, Alberto's Rich Dad -- we finally get his name, Don Rafael -- is talking to a middle-aged woman. "You'll take control of this store over my dead body!" "That can be arranged." I assume it's his wife from Scene 5, but she helpfully informs us that she is his sister. She knows about his affair with the head dressmaker, yada yada yada. When are we going to get to the beefcake? So far it's just been Alberto, Alberto's Dad (not attractive), and the Fake Rich Uncle (not attractive).
Alberto goes into the office to talk to Rich Dad about the show tomorrow. "Do you want to see the models?" Dad asks. "Of course!" Dad is elated, and hugs him. My parents used to be elated like that whenever I casually mentioned a girl. "He knows a girl! He's heterosexual! Let's celebrate!" Eventually I stopped mentioning girls at all.
Alberto thinks the current designs are old-fashioned. He wants to switch to new, groovy fashion, like those designed by Pierre Cardin. Dad sputters. Suddenly Ana, the guttersnip whom he was sent away to forget, comes in (at least I assume that it's Ana). He gazes in awe, realizing again that she is the meaning and purpose of his life.
When he leaves, Ana is overcome by giddiness: "He smiled at me! And what a smile!" Wait -- hasn't she known Alberto his whole life? Isn't this Ana, Carmen's sister, who was told by the priest that her uncle owned the store, but he turned out to be just a servant? I'm totally lost!
Scene 7: Luisa, a previously unmentioned dressmaker gets a phone call from the doctor: he's doing worse!
Scene 8: In the slave quarters, Ana and Mousy Roommate console Luisa. She advises them to go out to the bars anyway, in spite of her grief. On the way out, they run into Alberto! Actually, he was stalking them. He asks Ana out, but she refuses and rushes off. Does she not know him, or is she upset because he went away to school in London?
Scene 9: But Alberto doesn't get that "no means no." He follows them to the bar and sends Ana a drink, which Mousy Roommate takes. So Albert orders the bartender to close the bar and kick everyone out, except for Ana and Mousy Roommate. They leave anyway. Alberto says: "I'll keep stalking you every minute until you agree to a date!" This is harassment! Call the police! Oh, wait, Alberto probably owns the police.
She says "Just leave me a lone." "No!" A guy tries to come her rescue, and Alberto punches him. They fight.
Scene 10: Clobbering the would-be rescuer turned Ana on. They're back in the slave quarters, where she is tending to Alberto's head wound -- the scar he has in Scene 1! So this must be the night before. Tomorrow they will run away together, and Alberto will say "Do you trust me?" before deliberately veering the car off the road to kill Ana.
Scene 11: Back home at the palatial mansion, Alberto discovers that Dad has fixed him up with a girl named Christina. She flirts and touches and eye-bats, but he isn't interested.
Scene 12: Remember Luisa? Ana discovers that she's stealing material from the workroom! Doña Rosa comes into her quarters to criticize them, and almost catches them with the contraband! Fortunately, she doesn't stay long; she has to rush off to criticize another worker, who calls her "Mother." And the Boss can't find out. About what? Another subplot?
Scene 13: Lights out in the slave quarters. Ana trying to sleep. Someone raps on her window. It's Mousy Roommate, out past curfew! They discuss her personal life for awhile.
In the morning, Doña Rosa criticizes Mousy Roommate for breaking curfew. Who cares? She criticizes everyone for everything. She's like those horrible teachers who would yell at you for raising your hand or not raising your hand, for walking too slow or too fast, or for sitting at your desk improperly.
Meanwhile, Ana gets a package from a secret admirer (well, from Alberto) -- the dress she will be wearing when she veers off the road to her death!
Alberto shows up. They argue. I'm kind of looking forward to that death.
Scene 14: A repeat of Scene 1, except now we know who Alberto is and how he got the scar. Alberto and Dad argue over modernizing the fashions again. Isn't a little late? The show is sttarting in a few minutes.
Still 10 minutes left, mostly of Ana and Alberto smooching, but with a "shocking" plot twist that I won't go into here. Watch it yourself .
Spoiler alert: Ana isn't really dead. She sticks around through four seasons of arguments and smooching.
Beefcake: None
Gay Characters: None. The gay character Raul (Asier Etxeandia) has not appeared yet.
Deliberately Confusing Plotlines: 3.
My Grade: F
source http://everydayheterosexism.blogspot.com/2022/01/velvet-deliberately-misleading.html