Summary
In a sun-blistered Andalusian village where the dust smells of leather and broken vows, Juan Gallardo chisels his name into the very walls of his father’s cobbler’s shop, dreaming of the bullring’s crimson ballet. Scraping together coins and courage, he and a ragged coterie of friends ride the rails to Seville, where the Guadalquivir coils like a golden serpent through terraces of orange blossom. Inside the Plaza de Toros, Juan’s vermilion muleta becomes a second skin; the crowd’s roar baptizes him ‘El Niño de Oro’, a meteor of sequined glory. Money, marzipan-sweet, pours in; parasites sprout—his brother-in-law opens a tavern that never empties, his sister sports lace mantillas heavy as debts. Carmen, the girl who once patched his alpargatas, becomes señora of marble corridors, yet the echo of her footsteps is lonelier than a cathedral at dusk. Enter Doña Sol, a panther in silk who feeds on spotlights and the salt of men’s desperation; she drapes her panache over Juan’s shoulders until ambition calcifies into addiction. Meanwhile, the sierra coughs up Plumitas, a rifle-cradling phantom whose legend rivals Juan’s own, and who jokes that bulls and bullets are twin brothers of fate. Between the aristocrat’s sheets and the outlaw’s campfire, Juan’s timing falters; his passes grow sloppy, the horns inch closer. Admirers scatter like pigeons before a storm. On the day of San Fermín’s echo, the bull flicks its head, ivory blades find flesh, and the arena drinks deeply of its favorite son. While doctors murmur in candle-lit corridors, a detective’s revolver ends Plumitas’ flight in the cheap seats, fulfilling the prophecy that both idols would die drenched in applause and gunsmoke. Carmen closes Juan’s eyes, the crowd already forgetting the syllables of his name.
Synopsis
Juan Gallardo, a poor but ambitious young shoemaker's son in Southern Spain yearns to be a matador. To that end he and his companions set out for Seville where he eventually finds fame and fortune in the arena. Fawning admirers and parasites, beginning with his brother in law and sister, whom he sets up in their own business surround him. He marries his sweetheart Carmen, only to to neglect her when he meets a Dona Alvira, a man-eating femme fatale attracted to celebrities as long as they remain on top. He also meets a notorious bandit, Plumitas who terrorizes the local countryside and happily evades the law. Eventually, due to his obsession with Dona Elvira, Juan's skills begin to slip and his star begins to fade. His adoring followers drift away and he is fatally gored in the arena. Despite the efforts of the Doctor, Ruiz, he dies with his faithful wife Carmen at his bedside. At the same time, the bandit is recognized in the audience by a detective and is shot dead during an escape attempt, this fulfilling his prophecy that both he and Gallardo will die violently, Gallardo by the bulls and he by the firing squad.
