Naked weekends, white sheets, and masked erotica. The changing limits of decency in the Spanish sexy comedies of the transition to democracy

Abstract

Spanish sexy comedies of the 1970s have become an ambivalent touchstone of contemporary cinema. Both rejected by national intelligentsia and entertained by local audiences, they have traditionally been understood as a psychosocial projection of Franco’s repression, establishing a dialogue between legal and religious oppression and the social need for escapism. This article questions the limits of decency and obscenity in film comedy. Through the study of films directed by Mariano Ozores, a leading figure of sexy comedies but one of the least studied filmmakers of Spanish film history, the paper traces the different aspects of sexual representation in comedy. Turning to the genre’s cultural appreciation, political commitment and social analysis, the article focuses on three films: Fin de semana al desnudo (1974) for the study of the sexual discourse of the last years of the Franco regime; Cuentos de las sábanas blancas (1977) for the analysis of the new possibilities after the end of the censorship and, finally, El erótico enmascarado (1980) for the legacy of the sexy comedies in the first democratic cinema.