Netflix fans lap up new number 1 film based on shocking real-life murder
The movie retells the true story, using real recordings from the case.
The new number one film on Netflix is based on a shocking but little-known real-life murder.
A Widow’s Game was released on the streaming platform on Friday and is already at the top of the movie charts in the UK.
The Spanish-language thriller, starring Ivana Baquero, Tristán Ulloa, and Carmen Machi, follows the investigation into the slaying of engineer Antonio Navarro Cerdán (Álex Gadea).
As police dig further into the matter, led by veteran homicide detective Eva (Machi) his widow’s perfect façade is shattered, exposing a hidden double life.
But what has sucked so many early viewers in already, only a day after the film’s release, is the fact that A Widow’s Game is about a real-life murder that took place in Valencia, Spain, less than a decade ago, involving manipulation and betrayal.
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The movie even includes real-life recordings from throughout the case.
Eager fans who have already seen the film have rushed to share their thoughts, with Anastasiia Bantysh’s five-star review remarking that the film ‘portrays the nature of true human needs, depravity, and excessive self-confidence very well’.
‘Loved it – didn’t know anything about the story – well done, bravo to everyone involved,’ added Judith Lungen in another five-star ruling.
Comment nowWill you be watchingA Widow’s Game?Comment NowEl Confidencial’s critic Jose Madrid gave the film three and a half stars, declaring it ‘accessible and pacey, addictive throughout its two hours and faithful (perhaps too much so) to the real event it portrays’.
He also added that fans would ‘enjoy a production that won’t let you take your eyes off [it] once you press play’.
Read on if you want to discover the true story as depicted in A Widow’s Game…
What is the real-life murder case behind Netflix film A Widow’s Game? The film is based on a crime committed in 2017 in Valencia, Spain, which also involved manipulation and betrayal (Picture: Manuel Fernandez Valdes/Netflix)On August 16, 2017, Antonio, a 36-year-old industrial engineer, was ambushed in his building’s garage in the Patraix neighbourhood of Valencia before he could even start his car, according to Time magazine.
Stabbed in the chest, he died at the scene, leaving behind his 27-year-old devastated widow María Jesús Moreno Cantó, known as Maje, who worked as a nurse.
Despite her outward shows of grief and disbelief over the callous killing of her husband, investigators’ suspicions were soon raised by Maje’s ‘calm and calculated’ behaviour in early questioning – something very much at odds with the behaviour of someone thought to be in shock and mourning.
Detectives soon discovered that Maje was in fact leading a wild double life, carrying on with multiple extramarital affairs.
The victim’s wife Maje (played by Ivana Baquero in the film) turned out to be conducting affairs and involved with his death (Picture: Manuel Fernandez Valdes/Netflix)One of her lovers, Salvador Rodrigo Lapiedra, worked as a janitor at Maje’s hospital. Desperately in love with her, Maje had managed to manipulate him into carrying out the murder with promises of her love and allegations of domestic abuse against Antonio.
Phone taps revealed incriminating conversations between the two which confirmed the police’s suspicions that Antonio’s murder had been premeditated, with Maje giving Salvador all the information he would need – as well as keys to the married couple’s garage.
He lay in wait for Antonio to leave that fateful morning, armed with a kitchen knife which he later discarded in a cesspit at his property after the deed was done.
The duo was arrested in January 2018, but the twists don’t end there.
While Salvador initially tried to protect Maje during questioning – who denied any involvement with her husband’s death – he later changed his story after learning she had embarked on another relationship with an inmate while in custody.
Police were able to arrest and charge Maje and her lover, Salvador (Picture: Manuel Fernandez Valdes/Netflix)In his new statement, he admitted to the committing the crime of murder at Maje’s behest and with her full support, after presenting herself as the victim of physical and psychological abuse.
She had reportedly told him that her husband dying was better for their relationship than a divorce because she could keep both her inheritance and a widow’s pension in the first instance.
In October 2020, both Salvador and Maje were found guilty of murder: Maje received a 22-year sentence, while Salvador’s time was reduced to 17 years due to his co-operation with the investigation.
They were both also ordered to pay €250,000 (£210,762.50) in damages to Antonio’s family.
Maje was nicknamed the Black Widow of Patraix for her crime, which hinged on plotting the murder of her own husband for, among other things, financial gain.
Despite her outwards appearance as a grieving widow and nurse, Maje is now behind bars (Picture: Manuel Fernandez Valdes/Netflix)The Netflix film’s Spanish title is La Viuda Negra, which translates directly as The Black Widow.
And female black widow spiders are, of course, known for killing the male after mating.
In a final scandalous note to the real-life case, Maje gave birth to a child in July 2023 after getting pregnant by her inmate lover – a man known as David, who is also a convicted murderer.
She now resides in a mother-child unit at Fontcalent prison, where she is permitted to stay until her child is three.
A Widow’s Game is streaming on Netflix now.
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