Penélope Cruz Opens Up About Love and Freedom in ‘La Bola Negra’

Penélope Cruz’s Nene Brings a Shug Avery Energy

La Bola Negra moves through different time periods, following three gay men whose lives become connected through their experiences with love, sexuality and discovering who they are. Set in 1932, 1937 and 2017, their stories show how difficult it can be to understand and embrace yourself when the world around you isn’t always willing to do the same.

Penélope Cruz plays Nene, a talented and famous entertainer who travels and performs for the public, including soldiers. Watching her, I couldn’t help but think about Shug Avery from The Color Purple.

Like Shug, Nene has a freedom about her that immediately makes her stand out. Shug enters Celie’s life as someone who seems comfortable with who she is, what she wants and how she loves. Nene brings some of that same energy to Sebastián, played by Guitarricadelafuente. She doesn’t tell him how he should live his life. Instead, she becomes a safe haven, sharing stories of people who have experienced the freedom and self-discovery he longs for, while giving him the space to figure out what he wants romantically and emotionally.

That’s what makes Nene such an interesting character. There is something empowering about watching someone live freely when you haven’t completely figured out how to do that yourself.

Penélope Cruz on Love and Emotional Honesty

At the Toronto International Film Festival, I had the opportunity to speak with Cruz during the La Bola Negra press conference. With Nene representing so much freedom and emotional honesty, I wanted to know whether the film had changed the way Cruz herself looked at love and being honest with your emotions.

FELIPE PATTERSON: Has La Bola Negra changed the way you look at love and being honest with your emotions?

PENÉLOPE CRUZ: I think every single day of your life changes you a little bit. Every day adds something, and also, every project will contribute to you growing and changing and learning.

It’s also sad that La Bola Negra talks about so many issues that are still so relevant today. Like, we are looking back, and two of the protagonists were looking back at the ’30s, and one of them close to present time. But still, today, you can see situations like that everywhere.

And it’s heartbreaking, but that’s why it is a movie that is so important. And they managed to do that in a way where I feel they can connect with young generations and also older people that have experienced a lot of things.

Like, maybe some of them can be in situations where they still haven’t had the possibility to say to their own family, “How do they feel about their sexuality?” And we all know people in situations like that.

So, the movie is so necessary. They have managed to do that in a way where they don’t give you a lecture. They don’t tell you how to think, but you are going to leave the theater thinking and asking yourself a lot of questions, no matter what and no matter if you are a 17-year-old or a 90-year-old man or woman.

It’s just what they achieved with the film. It moves, like, so much inside and brings the right questions to the table.

The Freedom Nene Gives Sebastián

Cruz’s answer also speaks to why Nene reminds me so much of Shug Avery. Neither character needs to sit someone down and give them a lesson about how to live. Their freedom does the talking. Sometimes seeing someone unapologetically being themselves can make you question what is keeping you from doing the same.

That relationship is one of the things that stayed with me while watching La Bola Negra.

The film is beautifully shot and well acted, although during the first two acts, you may spend some time trying to figure out exactly what connects these characters. As those pieces start coming together, so does the emotional purpose behind them.

One thing that is clear is that Nene becomes both a catalyst and a safe haven for Sebastián as he tries to understand what he wants romantically and emotionally. Cruz brings warmth, confidence and a sense of freedom to the character without making Nene feel like she only exists to guide Sebastián.

And Cruz gets a musical number that I found very entertaining. It’s also one of those moments where you really get to see Nene in her element.

La Bola Negra is the kind of film that may leave you with more questions than answers, but that seems to be the point. As Cruz said, it doesn’t tell you how to think. It gives you something to think about. La Bola Negra arrives in theaters October 16.