Sand and Blood (1988)

The title recalls the silent Rudolph Valentino classic 'Blood and Sand', and not without good reason: although made in France the film is set close enough to the Spanish border for some overlap of culture, in particular the corrida de toros. Strictly speaking, it isn't a bullfighting film at all, but more of a male bonding character study, about an ambitious matador who becomes disillusioned after befriending a sensitive doctor with a profound dislike of the sport dating back to his childhood during the Spanish Civil War.

The build-up of sexual and emotional tension between the two men is riveting and suspenseful. Nicely acted, nicely produced.

Manuel is a Spanish émigré to France. Now a doctor his family left Franco's Spain during the worst of the troubles (and only after his grandfather had been machine-gunned with other dissidents in the local bullring).