The gifted Bardem is dopey as the lovesick Florentino Daza (played by Ugalde in early scenes). He ke

The gifted Bardem is dopey as the lovesick Florentino Daza (played by Ugalde in early scenes). He keeps his great, taurine head ducked and his back inverted like a parenthesis. But at least he displays flashes of humor that show he understands that while we're supposed to admire Florentino for his doomed dedication to his love-at-first-sight fantasy, a dedication that produces in him symptoms very similar to cholera at several points during the movie, we're also supposed to find him ridiculous.