Directed by Alex de la Iglesia
(Spain 2005) 105 min.
In Spanish with English Subtitles
In this antic and outrageous black comedy, Rafael Gonzalez (Guillermo Toledo) is a salesman in the ladies' department of a Madrid department store. His fondest dream is to be made floor manager; when his archrival, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), is named to the position instead, Rafael's world begins to unravel. During a scuffle in the women's dressing rooms, Don Antonio is accidentally killed, and Rafael makes the fatal decision to dispose of the body in secret. But as it turns out, the incident has been witnessed by Lourdes (Mónica Cervera), the homeliest sales assistant on the floor, who is secretly in love with Rafael. Soon she is blackmailing Rafael into giving up his freewheeling bachelor's life. Before he knows it, he's trapped in a cloying, claustrophobic marriage from which murder may be the only escape. Like the Ferris wheel that serves as the setting for one of its climactic scenes, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a bright, gaudy and tremendously satisfying ride. — Dana Stevens, The New York Times