A visually stunning but almost unwatchable adaptation of Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding (given a better-known more flamboyant yet more coherent "adaptation" by Carlos Saura as part of his FLAMENCO TRILOGY), LA NOVIA tells the same story as the play in which bride Inma Cuesta forsakes her pending marriage to introspective Asier Etxeandia for the hunky plains farmer Leonardo (Álex García, LOVE IN DIFFICULT TIMES) who just happens to be the son of the man who murdered her fiancé's father. Her future mother-in-law (Luisa Gavasa, WHAT YOU NEVER KNEW) disapproves of the union, Leonardo's wife (Leticia Dolera, [REC] 3: GENESIS) fears what Leonardo will do when he learns of the impending wedding, and even Death herself (Maria Alfonsa Rosso, CANNIBAL) warns the bride against marrying a man she does not love. Family honor and jealousy ensure a tragic (and blood-spattered) ending. The chronology of the story is shuffled with many slow-motion digressions and plenty of emoting close-ups that are not so much reminiscent of Dreyer than of telenovelas. The whole thing is visually dazzling but fails to engage the viewer emotionally or even aesthetically.