Accident, suicide, or murder? The mystery breathing through José A. Nieves Conde’s Los peces rojos (US: Red Fish) goes beyond cause of death, however, to questions of reality versus fantasy, present versus past. Conde’s dreamy, stormy film stars Arturo de Córdova and Emma Penella as a Madrilenian couple, writer Hugo and showgirl Ivón, on holiday at a seaside hotel with Hugo’s son, Carlos, who is soon washed out to sea while in the company of his father. Not only do we not see the young man’s disappearance, but we indeed never see the young man at all since Conde keeps his image off screen, even in the numerous flashbacks which slowly reveal a vicious web of temptation, jealousy, and inheritances at stake. Blanco’s elliptical screenplay bobs and weaves through time, producing plenty of twists and surprises, beginning with a masterful revelation the moment the police leave the sobbing couple alone at the crime scene. Between the eerie atmosphere of crashing waves and pounding winds and the disorienting narrative structure that folds time in on itself, Red Fish stimulates the mind as much as it touches the senses. Note cinematographer Sempere’s wide variety of shots — from above the chandelier, below the ocean ridge, high-angle profiles, slow pans, even speaking directly to the camera — which serve to heighten the alienation among the characters.