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- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Women in the picture
One rapid, significant development of theTransición
period was the emergence of female film-makers,
feeling their way through a male-dominated industry.
Pilar Miró was the big name. Of her films, the semi-
autobiographicalGary Cooper, que estás en los cielos
(1981) was lauded for its account of a middle-aged
woman struggling against sexism and life-threatening
medical problems. Miró’s last film,Tu nombre envenena
mis sueños(1996), a Civil War thriller, was released a
year before her heart gave out, aged 57. Josefina Molina
was the other major figure in the first wave of women
directors. Often, her films feature women trying to
escape from the traditional wife/mother role:Lo más
natural(1991), about a woman breaking free from her
marriage, did particularly well. In the 1990s Spain
welcomed a new generation of female film-makers.
Chus Gutiérrez filmed 60 people talking about their
sexual experiences inSexo oral(1994), while Azucena
Rodríguez placed a rare female lead (a young Penélope
Cruz) in a story of dissidence under Franco,Entre rojas
(1995). Actress Icíar Bollaín raised heads with her
directorial debut,Hola, ¿estás sola?(1996) and held
them spellbound more recently withTe doy mis ojos
(2003), a shocking tale of domestic violence that won
seven Goyas.Today, Spain’s female directors aren’t
peripheral, instead taking a hard earned place in
mainstream Spanish film.The most successful of late
has been Isabel Coixet, weaving character-led studies of
love and death that have made the leap to English
language cinema.
Trying times for Pilar
Pilar Miró’s second film,
El crimen de Cuenca
(1979) evoked a final
Spanish showdown with
film censorship. The
movie, which recalled a
court case of 1910 in
which two men admitted
to murder after being
tortured, was confiscated
and Miró was herself
put on trial, accused of
slandering the Guardia
Civil. Sense eventually
prevailed and Miró was
absolved. WhenEl
crimen de Cuencawas
finally shown in 1981 the
public turned up en
masse.
Thesubproductos:
a matter of coarse
In the final years of
Franco’s tenure a slew
of cheap, bawdy
comedies, nicknamed
subproductos, found an
appreciative audience.
After Franco, they
retained their popularity
and grew with the
incorporation of soft
porn. Throughout,
Mariano Ozores was a
prolific director; films like
El Ligüero mágico(1980)
were typical of his work.
Sex comedies went
limp in the mid 1980s,
outmanoeuvred by the
availability of hard-core
porn and rising
production costs.
