Abstract
ABSTRACT This essay discusses Victor Erice’s film The Spirit of the Beehive in terms of issues relevant to psychoanalysis today: the impact of socio-political trauma on the psyche. Through his cinematic artform, Erice captures the isolation and emotional deadness of village life in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War which we discuss in terms of the contemporary interest in intergenerational transmission of trauma as well as the expansion of the psychoanalytic paradigm to include socio-historic events impacting unconscious processes. Through a personal narrative of a young girl’s plight, the film captures her mind-numbing surrender to fantasy elaborations – which serves as an allegory for the people of Spain’s mind-numbed surrender to fascist dogma. Throughout the film, a witness is needed, so Erice turns to us, his viewers to take on this role. Beyond being a coded exposé of Franco’s regime, the film serves as a warning with disturbing relevance today.
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