La prima Angélica de Carlos Saura en el contexto del tardofranquismo

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show how Carlos Saura's cinematic production in general, and specifically La prima Angélica, was instrumental in undermining the Franco regime. First, I shall detail the events surrounding the terrorist attacks that extreme right-wing groups carried out at the film's premiere in 1974, and, from this historical perspective, highlight the ways in which Saura's film contributed to the sociopolitical attitudinal change in Spain by exposing the ideological distance between progressive and conservative elements within the regime. Second, I shall examine how Saura links two crucial moments in Spanish history, 1936 and 1973, through the perspective of a fifty-year-old man (the main character), his experiences and memories, and his pervading sense of existential emptiness. My conclusion is that the civil, ethical, and political commitment of the director in this historical period culminates in a film which questions many negative aspects of the Spanish society of the time. These include: the archetypal reactionary family, Catholic orthodoxy, ultra-strict morals, a merciless clericalism, and an authoritarian political power, all of which are traceable to the polarization caused by the Spanish Civil War. Finally, I shall comment on the technical strategies and the narrative resources that Saura employed as a means of bypassing Francoist censorship.