Spanish Film Final Review

Movie screening questions:

I. Volver

A. The opening

  • All the main themes of the movie are introduced: Wind, Fire, Death, Sisterhood, Motherhood

  • Lack of men, women taking care of their loved ones tombs, solidarity among women

  • Red and green color scheme (red title, clothes, etc)

  • They are in a cemetery in a small town (la Mancha)

  • Camera horizontal pan from right to left (indicating a return, the title of the movie)

  • Themes of wind and fire: The windy environment and the parents died in a fire

  • Death is seen as part of life and not taboo: women take care of their own future graves

  • Music playing is zarzuela – Spanish opera – “La rosa del azafran” – rose of saffron

B. Setting and historical background

  • The story takes place in La Mancha a small area outside of Madrid, as well as in Madrid itself

  • The setting is relevant to the story because due to the fact it is a small town, there is a lot of importance on the close knit community

  • Which story devices and visual images are used to describe life in the “pueblo” in the first moments of the movie? What kind of customs can you infer from the story? The mood in the “pueblo” has been described by some critics as “strangeness”. Why do you think it is so? How is it different from Madrid? How are these traditions different in your country?

    • the fact that the women take care of their loved ones graves, as well as their own future graves

C. Characters

  • The main characters of the story are Raimunda, Paula, Irene, Agustina, and Sole

  • Raimunda is Paula’s mother, Sole’s younger sister, and Irene’s daughter

  • Where can we see that community among women in the movie?

    • We can see community in the opening seen

    • When Raimunda’s neighbors help her run the restaurant

    • When one of Raimunda’s friends helps her bury the freezer

  • Are there any male characters? How are they portrayed in the film? How does Almodóvar depict female-male relationships?

    • There are only a few male characters and they are portrayed as awful and horrible

    • There is Raimunda’s Husband who is a pedo and creep

    • Raimunda’s Father who is a pedo, pervert, creep, etc

    • Lastly is the man that owns the restaurant but hes irrelevant

  • How do characters evolve throughout the film?

    • Irene for example finally is able to face Raimunda at the end of the film after finding out what her father had done to her

D. Intertextualities

  • Mildred Pierce

    • Hollywood Melodrama in the 40-50s

    • Relationship between mother and daughter, strong female characters

    • Women are mistreated and punished by society

    • Women reborn and second opportunity (ie. taking over a business/restaurant)

  • Italian Neo-Realism - Bellisima

    • Filmed Onsite

    • The Italian Maggiorate, were used to model the characters in Volver

    • Stage mom in Bellisima, in volver Raimunda was taken to singing auditions as a kid

    • There is a scene in Bellisima where the main lady is doing her makeup in this vanity mirror which is then mimicked by Raimunda in Volver

  • Connection to Almodovars personal story

    • He is from La Mancha

    • His mother was taken care of by the women in the village

    • First time Carmen Maura returns to work with Almodovars

    • Return to an all female cast

E. Narrative Structure and perspective

  • Is there a narrator? If so, what type and how does it contribute to the story?

    • There is no narrator in the story

  • What type of focalization is used in the film?: Is the story told mostly from an objective point of view or from a subjective perspective of one/several characters?

  • Is perspective limiting your vision of the film in any way?

  • What narrative structure does the movie have? Does it have a chronological structure (ab ovo), or in media res, in extrema res, etc.?

  • How do Almodóvar, his crew and actors achieve a smooth narrative flow in scenes where there is a shift in genres between comedy, thriller and melodrama? Look in detail at either the scenes in which Raimunda attempts to hide and then dispose of her husband’s body (Min 26:23, 1:20, 1:29) or at the scenes when Sole is attempting to hide her mother’s ‘ghost’ from Raimunda (Min 56, 1:18).

F. Themes

  • The weather - wind and fire

    • Raimunda’s parents “died” in a fire

    • La Mancha is very windy

  • Solidarity among Women

    • Opening scene

    • Agustina taking care of Tia Paula

  • Motherhood

    • Raimunda protecting Paula

    • Irene finding out about what happened to Raimunda

  • Death, Rebirth

    • Raimunda’s husband dies

    • Raimunda’s father and Agustina’s Mother died in the fire

    • They take care of their own graves in La Mancha

  • Secrecy and lies

    • Raimunda didnt tell anyone about the death of her husband

  • Urban and Rural culture

G. Title

  • Title means to return

  • The name of the song Raimunda sings in the climax of the movie

H. Cinematography

  • Color

    • Complimentary color scheme - Pistachio Green and Red

  • Characterization/setting

  • Camera shots, angles, and movement

  • Music

    • Volver’s climatic musical moment and its significance

      • The song Raimunda sings called Volver which is about going back to your first love which is your mothers love, her mother witnessed her singing

      • The very first time Raimunda sang since she was a child, her mother taugh her that song

II. La Communidad

A. The opening

  • Zooms into the run down building and into the apartment of the old guy

  • the old guy is dead for a long time and a cat is eating him

  • The credit sequence is weird and has elements of horror such as knives, skeletons, screaming, etc

  • In the opening sequence Julia finds _ on the ground

B. Setting and historical background

  • In Madrid during a time with a job crisis as seen in the many temporary jobs both Julia and her boyfriend have

  • Get rich quick mentality was prevalent

  • The movie takes place in a building in Madrid

C. Characters

Characteristics of the community

  • Try to portray themselves as a community when they aren’t

  • Their shared greed, they each had needs that they used to justify their greed and they all shared those needs through the contract

  • Signed a contract to be a community

  • Born and grew up in the same building and were not welcoming to outsiders

Outsiders

  • Domingue

  • Julia

  • Charlie

  • Engineer

  • Old man

D. Intertextualities

  • Alex Iglesias is the director

    • Said this was a cocktail movie because he refers to many different genres to make

    • Movies he has referenced:

      • Alfred Hitchcock: Psycho, through the rear window

      • Star wars

    • Genres:

      • Comedy

      • Horror

      • Thriller

      • Action

      • Drama

Spanish attitudes:

  • Work culture

  • Gambling

  • Get rich quick

  • Individualism versus community

E. Narrative Structure and perspective

Strategies to create an spooky atmosphere

  • The setting ( the run down building)

  • The characters were meant to be unconventionally attractive

  • Grotesque violent scenes, over the top performances

  • use of closeups on characters

  • angles (ie. neighbors look “perched” on the staircase when looking down at Julia)

F. Themes

  • Greed

    • critique on greed and obsession, and capitalist society

  • Individualism

    • the modernization of Spain in the 2000’s

    • new and old female identities - the difference between Julia and the women neighbors

III. Ocho Apellidos Vascos

A. The opening

B. Setting and historical background

  • ETA ceasefire was in 2011 and film released in 2014

  • The father of Basque Nationalism and his Ideology

    • Sabino Arana

    • Believed that the Basque country should be pure and thats where the 8 last names came from, he wanted his wife to have 16

C. Characters

D. Intertextualities

Stereotypes of Basque

  • Cold and serious

  • Nationalistic (Basque)

  • Unstylish

  • More rural and stubborn

  • Blunt

  • Rough mannered

Stereotypes of Andalusia

  • Funny

  • Stylish

  • More religious

  • Chauvinistic

  • Lazy

  • Extroverted

Definition of Post Humor: Humor about any topic, anything can be a subject for comedy

E. Narrative Structure and perspective

F. Themes

IV. Short films:

Definition of a short film: an original motion picture that lasts a maximum of 40 minutes including the credits.

Reasons to make a short film: To fill the time slots in a film festival, cost less, preview to what could be a feature length film, gain skills in film making and develop a portfolio, testing and idea.

“Rojo, Amarillo, Rojo”:

  • Father describes progress as the left leaning political party in Spain

“El Orden de Las Cosas”

  • Symbols of domestic abuse

    • Belt - cycle of violence

    • Bathtub - stagnant, no able to leave

    • Water - water rising in the bathtub when she is gaining courage to break free

    • Door - no privacy, humiliation

    • Ring and broken plane - broken promises

“Sinceridad”:

  • He didn’t have an education and got his job through knowing someone - Enchufismo

  • The parents didn’t want others to know they needed jobs

  • Jealous because they were all unemployed and their educated sister is also unemployed

  • Unemployment crisis

“Vale”:

  • By Alejandro Amonaban

  • Commissioned by Estrella, a beer company in Spain

  • Reference to Slum dog millionare

Oral Presentations:

Main information delivered in classmates' oral presentations and in-class activities (Typical Spanish: flamenco, bullfighting, gypsy culture; Spanish personalities: cultural aspects of different regions in Spain; Social aspects: immigration, racism, religion, education) -

Typical Spanish

Spanish personalities and regions

Religion/Education/Immigration in Spain

Cinematography aspects covered in class (see PPT on Film Analysis)

Definitions:

  • Associative use of color- the use of colors that are associated with a particular character, location, and/or mood.

  • Triadic color scheme- three colors in one scene

  • Monochrome- analogous color scheme

  • Diagetic sounds- Sounds that the audience and the characters can hear

  • Non-Diagetic- Sounds that the characters cant hear