Réquiem por un empleado

Juan Fonseca works as a manager in a modern factory where a new machine reshapes how everyone does their jobs. After seven years of courtship he finally gets married and settles into the expected consumer routine: a car, a house, a TV. When his wife becomes pregnant, the couple finds their lifestyle more expensive than anticipated, and Juan starts picking up extra work to make ends meet. The pressure of juggling multiple jobs and family expectations begins to wear on him, and the film plays that strain for comic effect while showing how small compromises and everyday stressors can accumulate into real personal cost.

Released in 1978 and directed by Fernando Merino, the movie features Ira von Fürstenberg, Pedro Osinaga, Silvia Tortosa, Mónica Randall and Manuel Zarzo. It’s presented as a Spanish comedy reflecting late 1970s social themes, with no widely cited source material.

There are no records of major awards or festival prizes for this title. It did not register with prominent awards bodies, and it seems to have remained outside the main critical prize circuits of its time.

Available reception is sparse and lukewarm, with very low user ratings on some databases. Critics and audiences who have seen it note its focus on consumer pressures, labor and domestic responsibility, and its use of broad, situational humor to underscore those themes. The performances and situations aim for satire more than subtlety.

Culturally the film had a limited footprint. It hasn’t produced well-known lines or iconic scenes, and it didn’t seed a lasting trend in popular culture. Still, it can interest viewers curious about how Spanish comedies of the late 1970s treated industrial change and family finance, and it may appeal to collectors or researchers tracing depictions of work stress in cinema.