National Cinema and Intertextuality in Alejandro Amenábar: From Hollywood to Julio Cortázar

Abstract

This essay explores the cinematic work of Spanish filmmaker, Alejandro Amenábar, within the contemporary critical framework that comprehends recent cinema as being part of a globalized culture dominated by Hollywood models as opposed to representing a particular national cinema. The article argues that Amenábar's postmodern films, which assimilate varied sources, are instead better understood as fitting a specific cultural and literary tradition. To show this, the analysis draws intertextual links between the Spanish director's well-known Abre los ojos (1997) and a canonical Argentine short-story from the 1950s by Julio Cortázar, ‘La noche boca arriba’, a foundational text of the Latin-American avant-garde. Both narratives use a formal and visual structuring of time and space to challenge our notions of reality. More importantly, they are concerned with the absence of historical consciousness in modern and postmodern times, and explore how the loss of historical memory affects both subjective and collective perception.