Muerte De Un Ciclista (aka Death Of A Cyclist) (1955)

Set at the height of Franco’s Spain, two upper class Spaniards (Lucia Bose, Alberto Closas) having an affair accidentally hit a bicyclist but leave him to die on the road. Fear and guilt then begin to chip away on their relationship, affecting not only them but those around them. Directed by Juan Antonio Bardem (THE CORRUPTION OF CHRIS MILLER), this intense sociological thriller has the feel of Hitchcock meets Antonioni. The beautiful Lucia Bose (STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR) brings a concentrated poise as the adulteress but the actors playing her lover (Alberto Closas) and husband (Otello Toso) are so similar physically and in acting style that it’s almost impossible to tell them apart on first viewing. Although the film won a prize at the Cannes film festival, the movie went over the head of New York Times critic Bosley Crowther (so what else is new?), who gave it a bad review. Today, it's recognized as a superb fusion of film noir and psychological exploration of class privilege. The director is the uncle of the Oscar winning actor Javier Bardem. With Bruna Corra and Carlos Casaravilla.