 Like earlier Chavarri's films, "A Dedication" was praised for its uncompromising thematic and artistry, but it failed at the box office.By the early 1980s, Chavarri embarked on a series of film adaptations of diverse fictional works which lent a seeming randomness and lack of focus to his development as a filmmaker.In 1983 he directed a lavish adaptation of Llorenç Villalonga's novel, "Bearn o la sala de muñeca"s (or 'Bearn or the Dolls's Room') and followed that with a screen version of Fernando Fernán Gómez's war play "Las bicicletas son para el verano" (or "Bicycles are for summer") in 1984.