Published on April 4, 2026
Over twenty years ago, I received an assignment through the now-deceased writer Carlos Pujol to advise on a possible film adaptation of the Catalan work “Incerta glòria” , considered one of the best European novels of the 20th century. I spoke with the writer’s widow, who insisted that her husband’s text be respected. I read the original two volumes published 62/la Caixa (1981), and I was impressed. However, the film was never made. If I remember correctly, the director was supposed to be Francesc Bellmunt, and Sales’ widow, Núria Folch i Pi, passed away in 2010.
Now, the long-awaited version produced and directed í Villaronga has premiered, leaving me disappointed. It does not live up to the great writer and editor’s original work, who was both a republican and a Catholic. “Incerta glòria” has not been synthesized director; rather, it has been skewed: one of the central characters, seminarian Cruells, has been omitted, leaving the other protagonists—Carlana, Lluís de Brocà, Trini, and Juli Soleràs—only within the context of the Spanish Civil War, specifically in 1937, emphasizing its grimmer aspects, much like Villaronga did in “Pa negre” (2010). The film fails to include the more philosophical elements of the original book, whose profound drama, morality, and literary quality have been compared to those of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Georges Bernanos, François Mauriac, or Graham Greene.
Villaronga’s film is far removed from those authors! Furthermore, viewers unfamiliar with the novel are thrown into the story abruptly, encountering characters with little contextualization or psychological description, witnessing tragedy almost without preparation. However, the splendid depiction of the Aragon front and Barcelona during those years (Plaza Palau, Hospital de Sant Pau, the bombings of the city) is commendable, along with the convincing performances from Núria Prims as Carlana, Marcel Borràs as Lieutenant Lluís, Bruna Cusí as Trini, and Oriol Pla as Soleràs, albeit a bit blurred. On another note, Villaronga adds a stark erotic scene and some gratuitous nudity and obscenities that were absent from the original text; this was something that Sales’ widow wanted me to ensure was avoided, in addition to respecting the spirit of the book.
In light of his incomplete adaptation of the novel, the director defended himself : “Personally, I am not interested in so much Christian disquisition or so many existential doubts about the goodness that Cruells represents. Therefore, I would be in favor of merging the two characters in favor of Soleràs.” He also expressed, “Filming an intellectual process of characters who make moral, metaphysical, and religious disquisitions, as is the case, is very difficult; you always have to resort to dialogue, and you run the risk of making something cumbersome and unreflective. Cinema is not the appropriate space for such types of reflections… It is very difficult for me to reflect the intellectual aspect of the work in images.”
Critic and professor Àngel Quintana wrote an astute review in the same Catalan newspaper titled “Sense el rerefons catòlic,” where he states that “the transition from existential drama to sexual tragedy causes some imbalances in the film.” Moreover, another specialist, Peio Sánchez, concluded in his review: “The excuse is not the difficulty of bringing a 700-page work to the screen that needs to be lightened. Nor is the solution to strip the characters of their true dramatic depth to shift them to the challenge of loving in times of cholera and saving a child in the midst of disaster. ‘Incerta glòria’ deserved something more and not just a hired surgeon. There is in our culture a vertigo, which we can call indifference, to the abyss and to depth. The novel continues to await readers with the same relevance, while the film is already obsolete.”
Honestly, if Joan Sales (1912-1983) and his widow, Núria Folch, could rise from their graves, they would not applaud.
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