El Crimen Perfecto

This latest from accomplished Spanish satirist de la Iglesia (Day of the Beast) is a broad treatment of standard war-of-the-sexes themes set in a posh Madrid department store. Toledo plays Rafael, the cock-of-the-walk senior salesman in the ladies-wear section. When he isn't seducing beautiful co-workers, he's angling for a promotion to middle management, an agenda that pits him against toupee-wearing supersalesman Don Antonio (Varela).

Rafael's fortunes turn when he accidentally kills Antonio in a highly incriminating manner. The manslaughter is witnessed by Lourdes (Cervera), the one saleswoman Rafael hasn't shagged, owing to her supposed lack of looks (though by real-world standards, she's a button-cute jolie laide). Lourdes helps dispose of Don Antonio's body, then blackmails Rafael into sexual servitude and, eventually, to dreaded matrimony. Driven to the edge of madness, Rafael starts taking advice on how to get rid of Lourdes from Don Antonio's ghost, who visits him in various states of dress and decay (a la An American Werewolf in London and umpteen lesser flicks).

To the extent that it works, Crimen succeeds on glib directorial flash (including some funny Hitchcock pastiches) and robust comic performances from Cervera and especially Toledo, who has the screen presence to breathe life into tired gambits like addressing the camera with arch, Ferris Bueller–style soliloquies. But even Toledo's charisma can't elevate the film above its middling aspirations. (Opens Friday; Gene Siskel Film Center.)—Cliff Doerksen