The Girl of Your Dreams 1998

In 1938, as the Spanish Civil War rages, a film crew from Franco’s territory is invited to Berlin to co-produce a musical set in 19th-century Andalusia, planned to be shot in two versions—Spanish and German. At first, the group is relieved to work far from their war-torn homeland, but the gleam of a new project quickly gives way to the grim and dangerous reality of life under Nazism.

Macarena Granada Penélope Cruz is the project’s bright star, and she soon catches the eye of Goebbels, the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, who is determined to bed her. She finds him repulsive and would rather be with Blas Fontiveros [Antonio Resines], the married director of the Spanish version, but the demands of the project and the desire to maintain Hispano-German relations force her to comply.

When she points out that the extras look inauthentic—tall and fair-haired—the authorities replace them with short, dark Jewish and Romani prisoners from a concentration camp, guarded by armed SS troops. An extra she feels sympathy for, a handsome Russian named Leo [Karel Dobrý], manages to slip away from the guards, and she hides him in the villa where Goebbels has installed her. When Goebbels visits, Leo knocks him out cold.

Blas realizes the project is finished and hurries to see Goebbels’ wife, Magda Goebbels [Hanna Schygulla], who is aware of her husband’s activities. She writes a pass enabling Leo, Macarena, and her dresser to board a plane that night. The fate of the rest of the group, left behind and under arrest, remains unclear.