“Is this a meal or a dilemma?”

No Shame (Sin Verguenza) is a light Spanish comedy film directed by Joaquin Oristrell (Unconscious, What Makes Women Laugh). The story revolves around a drama school run by Isabel (the marvelous Veronique Forque). Isabel, who was once an up-and-coming young actress, now concentrates on juggling the egos of her students while raising her daughter, Belen (Marta Etura).

Excitement disrupts the usual atmosphere at the drama school when one of the students steals a script from director Mario (Daniel Gimenez Cacho). Apparently Mario is considering casting his next film with unknowns, so naturally all the students hope to secure a part. With this idea in mind, the script is returned to Mario along with an audition tape of the students, and Mario agrees to visit the school and watch scene presentations.

While the students competitively vie for attention, it seems that Isabel and Mario have some unfinished business from the past, and Veronique Forque, who really is a wonderful comedienne, delivers her usual fine performance. Here she’s a woman on edge, but very competent at what she does, and several scenes show her coaching and extracting better performances from her students.

Subplots include Mario’s marriage to a soap opera actress who wants to make the transition to film, and there are also some minor entanglements amongst the students. The premise seems to be that actors are a different breed, and that competitiveness and strong egos come with the territory. There’s nothing too serious here, and the comedic elements are certainly entertaining. If you’ve enjoyed other films from Oristrell, you should know what to expect. In Spanish with subtitles.