Complaint and the Bourbon Monarchy in (Post-)Recessionary Cinema from Spain

Abstract

This essay traces the expression of censorious affects toward Spain’s emeritus King Juan Carlos I in two films produced in the aftermath of the Great Recession (2007–2009). Centring on Santiago Sierra and Jorge Galindo’s Los encargados (2012) and El Rey (Alberto San Juan & Valentín Álvarez, 2018), I argue that cinematic forms of complaint provide an ideal vehicle for contesting the future of the Bourbon monarchy. In the context of the (post-)crisis, both take aim at the Crown, using complaint as a genre to debate social attachments and interrogate narratives linked to the history of democracy in contemporary Spain.