The Court of the Pharaoh

The Court of the Pharaoh (La corte de Faraón) is a 1985 Spanish film directed by José Luis García Sánchez from a screenplay by Rafael Azcona and García Sánchez inspired by the 1910 zarzuela La corte de Faraón written by Guillermo Perrín and Miguel Palacios and composed by Vicente Lleó. It stars Ana Belén.

Plot
Set in 1940s Madrid, the plot follows a group of thespians staging a play of La corte de Faraón (zarzuela) and the play thereby being censored by the Francoist authorities on the basis of its moral laxity.

Production
The film is a Lince Films and TVE production. Shooting locations included Madrid's Teatro Martín.

Release
The film screened at the 33rd San Sebastián International Film Festival in September 1985, winning a Silver Shell award. It was released theatrically in Spain on 26 September 1985. It grossed 239,902,713 ₧ (87,160 admissions).

Reception
Ángel Fernández-Santos of El País considered that the film starts off poorly, but it improves after half an hour, thereby emerging a series of sequences with "major cinema within".