New Mythological Figures in Spanish Cinema New Mythological Figures in Spanish Cinema Dissident Bodies under Franco Pietsie Feenstra Front cover illustration: Maternal body (© Mimmo Cattarinich / © El Deseo D.A., S.L.U.) Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam Lay-out: japes, Amsterdam isbn (paperback) isbn (hardcover) e-isbn nur © P. Feenstra / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustra- tions reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Socrates: A body, by its simple strength, and through its actions, is powerful enough to alter even more profoundly the nature of things than whatever spirit in its speculations and in its dreams can achieve! Paul Valéry, l’Âme et la Danse Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction 1. From prohibition to clear exhibition: how to read into these film-images? I. Exposing prohibition II. The body as witness III. Updating the archetype 2. The liberation of women I. Flunking Out (Asignatura pendiente, ): breaking through a forbidden topic of the past II. The “Spanish” Carmen by Carlos Saura III. High Heels (Tacones lejanos, ): a mother walks away IV. General conclusion on the three films 3. The homosexual body on stage I. Sex Change (Cambio de sexo, ): rejecting the homosexual body II. The Deputy (El diputado, ): the political body III. The Death of Mikel (La muerte de Mikel, ): becoming visible IV. Desire became the law in V. Masculinity and homosexuality 4. The delinquent’sbodyoutoffocus I. Hurry, Hurry, (Deprisa, deprisa, ): faster than time II. El Lute: a mythological figure is born in the s III. Running out of Time (Días contados, ): drug addiction and terrorism IV. Conclusion: historicising evil through mythological figures Conclusion Notes Bibliography Photography credits Index Acknowledgments I want to express first of all my sincere gratitude to Michèle Lagny, who super- vised my PhD at the University of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle in Film Studies and helped me publish a French-language study in based on the research I undertook in this context. After having updated this English version, she also updated the Preface for Amsterdam University Press. This publication has been possible thanks to her encouragements as well as her intellectual and hu- man generosity. I also want to thank the members of my PhD commission at the University of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle: Jean-Claude Seguin, Michel Marie and Vicente Sánchez-Biosca, who offered helpful criticism that contributed to the rewriting of this manuscript. I am also grateful to Thomas Elsaesser of Am- sterdam University Press for having agreed to include this book in his interna- tional series, Film Culture in Transition, which has contributed to a large extent to the institutionalisation of Film Studies in the Netherlands. Indeed, thanks to Thomas Elsaesser, academic recognition of Film as a field of study has become ever more important. Translating the French book into English was a new experience. I want to thank my Anglophone friends for improving the text. The English language can be very poetic and I am deeply honoured by the way they helped me trans- form this book. Thanks to their comments, their creative way of rewriting an academic text and their intelligent attitude towards analysing the subtle differ- ences between the French and English languages, this book was born again. I want to thank Elspeth McOmish for having translated Michèle Lagny’s Preface. She also participated in rewriting the Introduction and part of the first chapter, together with Sama Ky Balson and Melissa Gallo. The last theoretical part of the first chapter and the next three chapters on film analysis were edited by Lydia Inostroza, who also translated the Conclusions. I am grateful for her commit- ment and academic knowledge in French and English. Her creative style, which involved rewriting the description of images in the parts related to film analysis, gave a new touch to the book. The French academic language is so different and the publication of this book in English was made possible thanks to the help of these wonderful writers. This research involved several stays in Spain and France. I would like to thank Eduardo Rodriguez Merchán (University Complutense Madrid), who guided me so well into the academic world in Spain and has supported my research projects for many years. I also want to thank Vicente Sánchez-Biosca 10 New mythological figures in Spanish cinema for discussions on my research, which helped me to clarify several issues. Liv- ing in another European country meant furnishing many documents and apply- ing for grants. I want to mention several people who supported my research project and helped me with these administrative issues: Michèle Lagny, Eduar- do Rodriguez Merchán, Vicente Sánchez-Biosca, Frank Kessler, Hilde Hacque- bord. Thanks to their support, I also received several Dutch, French and Spanish scholarships, which allowed me to work on this research in three countries. I am grateful to the Dutch government and several Dutch Foundations: the Prins Bernhard Fonds, Catharine van Tussenbroek Fonds and Fundatie van de Vrij- vrouwe van Renswoude – which supported this project. I would also like to mention the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which gave me a scholarship, as well as the Dutch (Nuffic, The Hague) and French Ministries of Foreign Af- fairs. I also received several grants from Casa Velázquez (the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Hispaniques) in Madrid, where Jean Canavaggio, Benoît Pellistrandi and François Zumbiehl created excellent working conditions. I greatly appre- ciated their hospitality in Madrid. Seeing films in a period without a DVD player, I had to rely on Spanish ar- chives. I am sincerely grateful to Marga Lobo and Trinidad del Rio for having given me access to the archives of the Spanish Film Museum in Madrid as well as to Carlos Iriart, director of the Municipal Video Library in Madrid, and José Luis Sevilla from the Film Library of Complutense University. For helping me to obtain the pictures, I would like to thank Alicia Potes and Miguel Soria (Ar- chives of the Film Museum) as well as Pedro Almodóvar’s production company, El Deseo. In recent years, I have presented many papers, attended many confer- ences and participated in a number of research projects; I would therefore like to thank the following people for the inspiring discussions I had with them on film and Spanish culture: Juan Carlos Alfeo Alvarez, Verena Berger, Nancy Ber- thier, Christa Blümlinger, Bénédicte Brémard, Marina Diaz, Max Doppelbauer, Kristian Feigelson, Anke Gladischefski, Camille Gendrault, Román Gubern, Françoise Heitz, Hub Hermans, Patricia Izquierdo Iranzo, Anne-Marie Jolivet, Renaud Lagabrielle, Gabriel Lago Blasco, Nuria López Blazquez, Nadia Lie, Sylvie Lindeperg, Steven Marsh, Javier Marzal, Laurence Mullaly, Itziar Muñoz Colomina, François Niney, Hilaria Loyo, Maria-Luisa Ortega, Dorota Ostrows- ka, Chris Perriam, Burkhard Pohl, Delphine Robic-Diaz, Sylvie Rollet, Pascale Thibaudeau, Lorenzo Javier Torres Hortelano, Dagmar Schmelzer, Clotilde Si- mond, Nuria Triana-Toribio, Jörg Türschmann, Dagmar Vandebosch and Belén Vidal. I would also like to thank Paris III, the University of the Sorbonne-Nouvelle, and especially the directors of the department of Film Studies – Philippe Du- bois, Michel Marie, François Thomas and Chantal Duchet – for having allowed me to lecture on Spanish cinema for many years. Students from France and all Acknowledgments 11 over the world showed great interest in this national cinema. As a Dutch per- son, it is a very inspiring experience to work with students from so many differ- ent cultures, many of whom are fascinated by Almodóvar’s films and Spanish cinema in general. The students’ remarks, their engagement with the topic and their international background has inspired me to undertake research and pub- lish on this topic. Cinema is an artistic medium that raises questions about con- temporary social issues. Other academic invitations have allowed me to extend this experience by lecturing in Masters courses, and I want to thank the follow- ing people for having invited me to their universities: Annie van den Oever and Barend van Heusden of Groningen University; Nicolas Blayo of the University of Paul Valéry Metz, France; Wanda Strauven and Patricia Pisters of the Univer- sity of Amsterdam; Nancy Berthier of the University of Marne la Vallée; and Kathrin Sartingen and Esther Gimeno Ugalde of the University of Vienna in Austria. This European experience has illustrated once again for me that Almo- dóvar’s characters, and indeed Spanish cinema in general, fascinate interna- tional audiences by their questioning of contemporary issues. I want to finish this page with a special word for my family and my friends in France, Spain and the Netherlands. As the Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote so well, “Wanderer, there is no road, by walking the road is made” (“Ca- minante no hay camino, al andar se hace camino”). On my road, by working and living in three countries, I met wonderful people and I would like to thank my family and friends for sharing this inspiring experience with me. Preface Here is a “book of passion” on the metamorphoses of post-Francoist Spain as it was catapulted into the contemporary world (-). It is a book that ques- tions the power of myths expressed through passionate bodies, in particular those who for far too long were marginalised in traditional societies. Women trying to liberate themselves, homosexuals seeking to emerge, delinquents at- tempting to resist society – all are brought together and intertwined in a strange choreography of dissidence.