Don Juan deMarco

Don Juan deMarco or John R. DeMarco? A young man struggles with an identity problem as he belives himself to be the legendery Don Juan, the world's greatest lover. To the rest of the world, he is a lunatic and after he attempts suicide, he is locked away in a psychiatric hostpial. Dr Jack Mickler takes on the task of sorting out fact from fiction, but find himself being drawn into the sensitive young man's story. As the strang tale unfolds; bearing a strong resemblance to Byron's epic poem; Dr Mickler rekindles his relationship with his own wife.

Don Juan talks of his life in a Mexican village with his dazzingly beautiful mother and passionate father. His happy life ends when the husband of his first lover challenges DeMarco senior to a duel and kills him. Don Juan runs away from his grief and guilt, vowing never to remove the mask he wears to cover his shame. He finds solace in the arms of thousands of women; from an entire harem to a lonely and neglected woman in a restaurant, whom he intends to make his final conquest. But along the way, Don Juan finds true love with his beloved Doña Ana, who lives alone on a deserted beach. Sadly, she is unable to understand or accept his past and she rejects him, putting on his mask of shame over her own eyes. Somehow, he manages to leave the island and return to the US, where he decides to end his loneliness.

On the other hand, John DeMarco lives with his grandmother and obsesses over a masked centre-fold in a magazine. He is unable to contact her and as his loneliness increases, the delusions take over his life. Or do they? His grandmother gives one version of the story to Dr Mickler, who is then astonished to be visited by Don Juan's mother, who has indeed become a nun after the loss of her husband in a duel. Fact and fiction are wound around each other and even Dr Mickler cannot unravel them.

In the end, he makes the decision not to take away Don Juan's fantastical life. He persuades him to pretend to be that lonely, obsessed boy in order to escape from the hospital. Then Dr Mickler, his wife and Don Juan fly away to the deserted isle, where Doña Ana still waits for her true love.

cast:
Marlon Brando -  Dr. Jack Mickler
Johnny Depp -  Don Juan DeMarco
Faye Dunaway -  Marilyn Mickler
Géraldine Pailhas -  Doña Ana
Bob Dishy -  Dr. Paul Showalter
Rachel Ticotin -  Doña Inez
Talisa Soto -  Doña Julia
Marita Geraghty -  Woman in Restaurant
Richard C. Sarafian -  Detective Sy Tobias
Teresa Hughes -  Grandmother DeMarco
Stephen Singer -  Dr. Bill Dunsmore
Franc Luz -  Don Antonio
Carmen Argenziano -  Don Alfonzo
Jo Champa -  Sultana Gulbeyaz
Esther Scott -  Nurse Alvira

Made in 1995.
Written and directed by Jeremy Leven (with the character of Don Juan from Byron). (With the title originally to be "Don Juan and the Centrefold".)
Produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Nominated for several awards, only winning them for the soundtrack. Except for Johnny Depp, who won the London Critics Circle Film Award in 1996 for actor of the year for "Don Juan DeMarco" and "Ed Wood".