Armendáriz subsequent film became his best regarded artistic success "Secretos del Corazon" "(Secrets of the Heart)" (1997). An intimist drama that centers on Javi, a nine-year-old boy who while visiting relatives in rural Navarre during the early 1960s discovers the world of the adults. The film reflected the director's own nostalgic views of his childhood in the Navarrese countryside, portraying with sensibility the growing up of the child. "Secretos del Corazon" received a number of awards and was Spain's candidate to the Academy Awards in the foreign language film category that year.