Akademik

(1941- )

   A diva of Catalan theater who debuted on stage with the Spanish version of Ann Jellicoe's The Knack, Rosa María Sardá has also had a substantial career on film. After years playing serious roles in plays by Moliere and Bertolt Brecht in independent theater, she became a television hostess and cultivated a wry, dead-pan humor that became the secret of her early success. She debuted on film in the forgotten El certificado (The Certificate, Vicente Lluch, 1970), but no director used her as lovingly as Ventura Pons, who chose her for an early comedy role as a part of the ensemble cast of El vicari d'Olot (Olot's Vicar, 1980), the real starting point of her film career.

   Sardá's collaborations with Pons constitute a detailed catalogue of her moods and a tribute to her range and authority: she was very good in Actrius (Actresses, 1997), playing a role very close to her-self as a person and inspired by her TV career; a brief appearance in the ensemble piece Caricies (Caresses, 1998) as a mother; another mother in Amic / Amat (1999), in which she was allowed to show emotional vulnerability; and exceptionally good in Anita no perd el tren (Anita Won't Miss the Boat, 2001), as a mature woman who discovers sexuality. Their last collaboration to date is Barcelona (un mapa) (Barcelona [ a Map ], 2007), in which she vividly portrayed a disappointed teacher.

   In addition to her Pons collaborations, she gave a touching, delicate performance as a mature woman who shocks her daughters by coming out as gay and developing a relationship with a pianist in A mi madre le gustan las mujeres (My Mother Likes Women, Daniela Féjerman and Inés Paris, 2002). She was very funny as an actress in Fernando Trueba's La niña de tus ojos (The Girl of Your Dreams, 1999). Otherwise she has specialized in broader, dominating mother types, as in Alegre ma non troppo (Gay, But Not That Gay, Fernando Colomo, 1994), Airbag (Juanma Bajo Ulloa, 1997), Te doy mis ojos (I Give You My Eyes, Icíar Bollaín, 2003), and Chuecatown (Juan Flahn, 2007) a film in which, unsurprisingly, she played mother to a closet gay man.