The read
It runs a compact 1h 30m.
Synopsis
At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father's arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for what's going on; sometimes we see him at play, alone or with his friend Thérèse. Oedipal fantasies and a lad's natural curiosity about sex and death mix with his search for his mother's nature and his father's fate. Will Fando survive the search?
Ratings
IMDb6.5/10
44 audience votes
Key crew
- Fernando ArrabalDirector
- Claudine LagriveWriter
- Fernando ArrabalWriter
Cast
- Mohamed BellasouedColonel
- Anouk FerjacThe aunt
- Núria EspertThe mother
- Mahdi ChaouchThe son
- Ivan HenriquesTosan, the father
- Jazia KlibiThérèse, Fando's friend
- Suzanne ComteThe grandmother
- Víctor GarcíaFando, 20 years old
Stills
Themes
dreamsnihilismfascismsatiresurrealismspanish civil war (1936-39)sahara desertdesertblasphemycorporal punishmentwhippingmother son relationship