I think I'd be willing to settle for a lot less from Carlos Saura and … Cria Cuervos….

[The film's] two levels, the first presented head-on from Ana's viewpoint and the second apparent only from the gradual accretion of seemingly inconsequential detail, are enough for any film to handle. Saura specializes in a kind of allegorical realism, judging from some of his earlier work, particularly The Hunt (1966) and The Garden of Delights (1970). But Saura, trying to live up to critical claims that he is Bunuel's heir, has contrived to load his film down with trimmings it doesn't really need.

Saura is Bunuel's equal in his fluid transitions from reality to fantasy….

Saura has real problems, though, trying to be a surrealist, and his hommages to other directors frequently add resonance in the wrong direction. The surrealist touches in Cria Cuervos—ominous things in the fridge, a perpetually mute and...