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= 9 meses = 9 Meses is a romantic comedy co-produced by Spain and Venezuela, that develops its plot particularly in Madrid and Valencia. The movie is directed by Spanish director Miguel Perelló and stars Enrique Arce and the actors Anabel Alonso, Anabell Rivero, Mónica Cruz and Vanesa Romero. Its release was limited in Spanish as well as Venezuelan cinemas and therefore it soared on platforms like DVD and online.

Plot
The film 9 Meses (9 Months), directed by Miguel Perelló, is a film that tells the stories of three wealthy and successful women in their thirties. The only thing they need to be completely happy is to form a family. In their desperate attempt to be mothers, they find a man who has a series of characteristics of a stereotypical father that can get them all pregnant at the same time. Clara Nadal, a teacher played by Vanesa Romero, Charo Maspons, a successful lawyer played by Anabel Alonso and Liliana Guzmán played by Anabell Rivero, a Venezuelan marketing manager, are three friends who decide to forget the fairy tale of finding a prince charming to find a man that can be the perfect father to get the three pregnant at the same time. The three women go to see a play that stars Fernando Díaz, played by Enrique Arce, with whom Charo had a romance when they were young. Fernando is a theatre actor with little luck in his love and professional life and his dream is to have a big family. Charo remembers their relationship and tells Clara and Liliana what Fernando is like and the girls realise that he is the man that the three girls have been looking for – they consider him a handsome man, clean-cut and a good lover, so therefore they propose their idea, leaving Fernando astonished and lost for words, which makes him immediately decline the outrageous proposal. After four days of reflection and after realising that his life has still not taken any shape, Fernando accepts the proposition from the three women and signs the document that fixes the terms and requirements that he has to fulfil to get them pregnant. At first, everything seems perfect for him since he has sexual relations with the three women, however, Fernando is asked to act in a play in Madrid and he has to go to live there, leaving the girls alone who don’t take it well, but before he goes the three girls take advantage of the opportunity that they are ovulating to use him for the last time. When he goes to Madrid, Fernando stays in the home of his sister Roxanna who is played by Mireia Pérez. While there, he meets a friend of Roxanna’s, Inma Garcés, who is played by Mónica Cruz, who he meets the same night he arrives, since he gets in his bed without realising that she’s there. From that point onwards love starts to arise between the two and they begin a romance, putting their unlucky past in love and in their professions behind them. Although she asks him to be honest, he doesn’t inform her about the three women because he believes that she wouldn’t take it too well. However, during their stay in Madrid, the girls ring Fernando to announce that they are pregnant. Months later, Fernando returns to Valencia, without telling Inma that he was expecting babies from three different women, to meet the parents of the three women, having to invent three different personalities so that the families don’t suspect anything about him being the same father of the three children. Soon after, Inma decides to travel to Valencia to tell Fernando that she is pregnant but when she arrives he tells her the truth and even though he cries to her and asks for forgiveness she decides to return to Madrid without forgiving him since she had just asked for one thing and he failed on it. Just then, the three girls go into labour. Shortly after, Fernando returns to Madrid to play the protagonist in theatre and thanks to a friend he finds out that Inma opens an exhibition. Having ended the exhibition he goes in search of her apology again and tells her he will always support her because “one must always fight for the things that are worth while”. They hug each other and they get together again, knowing that he will be a father for a fourth time. The film ends at the wedding of Fernando’s gay friends Gustavo (Jaime Linares) and Ramón (Pep Selles) ; where Inma’s waters break while everyone is posing for a photo.

Director
The film is directed by Miguel Perelló, a film and television director and producer who has worked for various Spanish production companies such as Cartel and Intercartel. He is a member of the Spanish Academy of Arts and Audiovisual Sciences, patron of the City of Light Foundation of the Valencian Community, member of the Association of Directors as well as Producers of the Valencian Community and the Audiovisual Advisory Council of the Generalitat Valenciana. He is also a member of the Television Academy of Spain and is considered a benchmark of Valencian audovisuals. Perelló was president of the Association of Valencian Producers and president of Indigomedia (a company that originated from the merger of Nisa and Intercartel). His work as a film director includes 9 meses, of which the director has stated “9 meses is a comedy for women, made by women and for women”. On the other hand, as a producer, his works include Cien maneras de acabar con el amor (literally, 100 ways to put an end to love) and La bicicleta (The bicycle). In television, the following stand out among his works: Cuerpo a la carta (Body on demand) and Els Buscadors (The seekers).

Main Actors

 * Enrique Arce plays Fernando Diaz, an actor who has not achieved professional success, thirty-something and immature, who dreams of having a big family, a dream that will come in an unexpected way for him. His life takes place between Valencia, where he lives in his parents' apartment, and Madrid, where he shares a flat with his sister.


 * Mónica Cruz plays Inma Garcés, a young sculptor and plastic artist who is beginning to gain recognition for her work. Her grandmother is the most important person in her life and one of the things she hates the most is people who lie to her. Throughout the course of the film, she is involved in a storm of lies, jealousy and affairs.
 * Anabel Alonso plays Charo Maspons, a successful and sincere lawyer dedicated to achieving her goals. Tired of waiting for her Prince Charming who never arrives, she decides to undertake the most important challenge of her life; become a mother at the same time as her two best friends by the same father. Thanks to her, the three friends find the perfect father for all three.
 * Vanesa Romero plays Clara Nadal, a dreamy, friendly and respectful women who is very good with numbers and dedicated to education. She is prepared to take an important step in her life; become a mother at the same time as her friends, as she too is tired of waiting for the perfect man.
 * Anabell Rivero plays Liliana Guzmán, an attractive Venezuelan who left her country for a suitable professional future as a marketing manager in Valencia, Spain. Persistent with her dreams she decides that it’s time to fight to become a mother.
 * Sergio Caballero plays Sebastián, the arrogant representative of Fernando Díaz, and tries to find by any means possible an opening in television, film or theatre for his great friend. He moves in search of his interests and his own benefits.
 * Josep Selles plays Fernando’s gay friend Ramón who maintains a sentimental relationship with Sebastián, and after several ups and downs they both say yes at the altar.
 * Jaime Linares plays Gustavo, Fernando's friend for many years, who is in a relationship with Ramón whom he will eventually marry. He is funny, friendly and affectionate.
 * Mireia Pérez plays Fernando's sister Roxanna, who welcomes him to her home in Madrid when he moves there to relaunch his professional career. Thanks to Roxanna, Fernando will meet Inma. Roxanna encourages Inma to tell Fernando that she is expecting his son.
 * Mamen García plays Kika, Fernando's mother. Kika supports Fernando, both in his personal and professional life. She is fun, friendly and very optimistic. She is the first to approve the triple fatherhood of her son.
 * Albert Forner plays Fernando's father. Like his wife, he is very supportive of Fernando in all his decisions, including becoming a father of three children by different mothers.

Supporting actors

 * Joan Gadea as Pepe.
 * Miguel Ángel Romo as Jaime Forner.
 * Héctor Palma as Simón.
 * Paula Garber as Julia.
 * José Montesinos as Cyrano.
 * Rafael Calatayud as Gregorio.
 * José Albarrán as Ximo.
 * Miguel Barberá as Iñaki.
 * Benjamín Seva as Elétrico.
 * Emilio Mencheta as recepcionist.
 * José Montó as recepcionist.
 * Empar Brisa as Amparo.
 * Mónica Román as Trini.
 * Juan José Vizcaíno as assistant director.
 * Javier Romero as the bus driver.
 * Manuel Puchades as the theatre director.
 * Juan Manuel Frecha as the security guard.

Criticism
The reception by the public of this Spanish comedy set on the Mediterranean coast, one could say was not very relevant. The producer, anticipating the possible failure of this, did not premiere it in cinemas until three years after the completion of its filming. After 9 meses was released in a small number of venues in Spain and even fewer in Venezuela, it was released on DVD. In this platform we can not say that its distribution and impact were much more relevant, but it could be found in every video store. It was also launched online in order to make it more accessible and to have a more international reach. 9 meses could count on great actresses that were very well known in Spain, such as Anabel Alonso, Anabell Rivero, Vanesa Romero and Mónica Cruz, who generated great expectation as the sister of the well-known actress Penélope Cruz. The marketing strategy to promote the film was by no means ingenious, which was also due to the tight budget that was available. This, coupled with the fact that the film was not part of any famous saga, as for example Torrente - which marketing is of exceptionally high quality - lead to a tremendously low reception and support by the audience. Despite the little repercussion that the film had within Spain, which was even less in other countries, it did win the award as the best feature film in the Mostra de Valencia awards. However, it must be emphasized that this is a secondary award in the film industry and it has not helped any award-winning film to achieve fame or national and international prestige. It has only served as a recognition for a job well done, which indeed is the case in this film, as it guarantees entertainment for one and a half hours. The commonly expressed public opinion on this film is perfectly reflected in this anonymous comment which was found on a website: “It is not a great film but it is entertaining and as it lasts only one and a half hours it doesn’t get tedious. It also has its fun moments, especially in the scenes where you see how the three women use poor Fernando to get themselves pregnant.” From this comment we can deduce that 9 meses is one of the many Spanish films that never received great significance in the film industry, but it can definitely entertain anyone on a Saturday or Sunday evening because it is an “españolada”, a film that shows the clichéd, stereotypical image of Spain. These “españoladas” like the indigenous films Spanish Movie or Brain Drain are always capable of making us laugh but 9 mese did not achieve a great repercussion in the countries where it was released or shown in because of its tremendous difficulties (en el lanzamiento) and the lack of distribution.

Locations
The film was promoted throughout Spain, but it was not screened in cinemas that were not owned by Cines Unidos. With regard to its international launch, South America was the only place where it might have had repercussion, especially in Venezuela, as a result of the co-production with the companies De Palacio Films and HPN. The film was shot in the Valencian Autonomous Community in Spain, which is the reason of its cooperation. Madrid and Alicante are another of the cities that are represented in the film and where it was shot.

Funding and Collaboration
The film is a Spanish-Venezuelan co-production produced by DePalacio Films, Spain, and Productores HPN, CA, Venezuela, with the collaboration of RTVE, RTVV and Cines Unidos. The film was financed by ICO which main collaborators are: ICO, ICAA, IBERMEDIA, Generalitat Valenciana, Ciudad de la Luz, IVAC, CNAC. The Premium company was in charge of distributing the film in Spain. Concerning the earnings, as was not a famous film and soon after its launch was available on DVD and online, it is difficult to find reliable resources about the box office receipts. Another reason why it did not become as known as other productions is that it was not screened in many cinemas. The only sum of money that is on record was the significant prize money, which the film received in the Mostra de Valencia for the best feature film.The total amount of this award was €15,000.

Awards
Among 61 other films, TV movies, short films, feature films and fiction series, 9 meses was nominated for and won an award in 2010 in the 31st Mostra de València which was held in the Lys cinemas. The award was for the best feature film and it was given a prize worth €15,000.