The Beehive

Madrid in 1942, just after the Civil War, and the city is hungry and watchful, with dozens of lives crossing in its cafés and rented rooms. Mario Camus adapts Camilo José Cela's novel as a mosaic that moves among Victorita (Ana Belén), Purita (Concha Velasco) and Julita (Victoria Abril), poets scraping by under Franco, and the winners making easy money in illegal business. What it sets side by side is who has to beg for a meal and who can pay for one.