El desencanto

Between all the terror films I think that El desencanto is the most horrible example. In fact this is one documentary; the best creative documentary of the spanish cinematographic history.

This is the second Jaime Chávarri's movie (an unknown director (except, maybe, in Argentina and Spain because of the popularity of his musical movie Las cosas del querer, with Angela Molina)), but we must to consider that this is a four-hands-made film because of the active cooperation between Chávarri and Querejeta, the producer of the documentary.

In this film we can find some of the harder scenes I've ever seen. The vampiric presence of Leopoldo Panero, who was dead eight years before the production of this movie about the Panero's family, marks absolutely the life of his widow and sons and, in another level, the public one's too. Leopoldo Panero, like Frankenstein, is hidden somewhere listening to his family's declarations and he is preparing to come back to put the things in "correct way".

Ricardo Franco, a good spanish director, tries to re-birth the "desencanto"'s spirit in a second part of this movie, but his documentary (which where produced twenty years after, when the widow were dead) didn't arrive to the unconscient perfection of the original film. Anywhere, Franco hadn't the art of building the fearest movie.

El desencanto (The Disenchantment) is a 1976 Spanish documentary and has achieved cult status film , being written and directed by Jaime Chávarri about the family of prestigious poet Leopoldo Panero . As the Panero family is an illustrious traditional family from Astorga with literary links spanning several generations . The patriarch, Leopoldo Panero, was one of the best regarded poet in Spain during his time. He died suddenly of a heart condition in 1962. Twelve years later, here appears his widow , the still enjoyable and elegant Felicidad Blanc, in the company of two of her sons , it is shown in an outdoor homage to the late poet . The film is a documentary about the poet 'Leopoldo Panero' as well as widow and his sons , they are the following ones : the mother , Felicidad Blanc , and her sons : Juan Luis Panero , Leopoldo María Panero and Michi Panero , all of them talk about the tumultuous life and sad death , though Juán Luis and Leopoldo rejected to get together , while regarding their shared past and troubled relationships , also about their dark future . But the death of her husband brought the family's financial decline and she was forced to sell family properties while raising her sons alone . The family of official Franco regime poet Leopoldo Panero sit before the cameras initially to discuss their memories of the patriarch who died in 1962, but as his wife and three sons reveal more of themselves . Disenchantment is an unsettling work and, though widely unavailable, is one to watch out for.

Jaime Chavarri's The Disenchantment (El desencanto), released 1976, but with an on-screen copyright of 1975 and containing footage audibly about their own family problems , telling the story of the Panero family told by themselves twelve years after the death of patriarch Leopoldo Panero, a poet of Francoist Spain . Credited as being shot in 1974, offers a slow burn to patient audiences . The misfit members of this peculiar family interact with one another in uncomfortable encounters , shot with two cameras and cutting back and forth between their anguish-filled faces, as the Panero family's state of affairs becomes an analogy for the state of Spain in the wake of General Franco's death . The documentary is based on the testimony of the remaining four members : the poet's widow , Felicidad Blanc , with a calm and cultured voice, tells about the memories of her wealthy youth during the Spanish civil war and her courtship with the famous poet . A medical doctor's daughter from Madrid's upper middle class , she became upon her marriage a traditional Spanish wife completely overshadowed by her domineering , notorious husband. She dedicated her life to her hubby , their three sons and the family home in Astorga . The three brothers, all cultured and well spoken , had literary ambitions , as the three sons are called Juan Luis , Leopoldo Maria and Michi developing their intertwined testimonies here and there .

El desencanto was made towards the end of Francoist Spain and was released during the Spanish transition to democracy becoming a symbol of the decadence of the Francoist family and nowadays deemed to be a ¨Cult Movie¨. El desencanto is considered a seminal work among Spanish documentaries at the time , they tell about death in general and in this special case dealing with family squabbles and their thunderous past . Wife Felicidad, living in fear of her angry husband during their marriage , waxes nostalgic about the happy times spent with her children and the party-filled social life she indulged in as a widow . Eldest son Juan Luis is a mildly successful writer with delusions of grandeur who soaks himself in booze to get through his day; middle son Leopoldo Maria, the family success story whose on-screen presence is saved until the final act, has survived multiple suicide attempts , as well as frequent imprisonment and institutionalization, and venomously resents his mother and older brother Michi is the lost boy , fighting to find himself while caught in the crossfire of his family member's hateful arguments . All speak of their father with unrestrained joy in the wake of his death , but cannot hide the everlasting damage he continues to inflict on the family who feared him in life. Panero himself isn't seen anywhere in the film, not even in excerpts from the family photo albums , only homaged by poet friend Luis Rosales , however his overwhelming shadow is felt in every frame. Like Franco, his genesis will continue to haunt his survivors for quite some time .

The motion picture produced by the notorious producer Elias Querejeta was decently written/directed Jaime Chavarri , with originality enough in spite of being sucessive interviews . His first professional movie was ¨Los Viajes Escolares¨ (1974), with an autobiographical touch but it was misunderstood by most critics . Later he worked with the producers 'Elías Querejeta' in prestigious documentary titled ¨El Desencanto¨ (1976)) and Alfredo Matas in a successful costumer titled ¨Bearn¨ (1983), adapted from the novel by Llorenç Vilallonga. With the last mentioned film he also had success in terms of the numbers who saw the film . He also directed intense dramas such as ¨Dedicatoria¨ and ¨A un Dios Desconocido¨ . To change the genre he also filmed the musical, ¨Las Cosas del Querer¨ (1989) , being followed by ¨Cosas Del Querer 2¨ (1995) , along with a Tango film as ¨Tangos Are for Two¨ . And adapted from the theatre play by Fernando Fernán Gómez in his most popular film titled ¨Bicicletas Son Para Verano¨ . And ¨ El Desencanto¨ 1976 that went on a follow-up : ¨Después de tantos años (1994)¨, reunited the brothers 20 years later , no their mother due to her former death to discuss what happened in their lives since this film, and judging from published reviews, things did not get prettier in that time . His last picture was a biography about ¨Camarón¨ (2005) .

The least that can be said about The Disenchantment is that it is surprising and that it is effective. Surprising because how to understand the attitude (courage?) of this family that shamelessly exposes their dirty laundry? And effective because the final sensation is powerfully devastating and decadent.

It brings to our mind Tolstoy's first sentence in Anna Karenina. The film is a clear attack on the traditional Francoist bourgeois family, more chilling than any shown by Chabrol, through the nothing exemplary case of the Panero family. The father a poet today quite forgotten, but in the times of the dictatorship of a certain reputation. The mother a girl from the upper classes in Madrid, somewhat vain and presumptuous, who discovers that life with the renowned poet is far from what she expected. We can imagine infidelities, subjugation, loneliness...

Of the three children, the eldest has had an inconsequential career as a poet, more pulling on his father's reputation than anything else, but he likes to think that he is someone in the cultural world of the time; the other, a cursed poet somewhat more remembered, is an unfortunate example of what drugs can do to human beings; the third is a spoiled good boy who tries to live as well as possible with what may be left from selling the family estate.

The three of them like to investigate Freudian backgrounds, appear cultured, attract attention, hate their father and criticize their brothers.

The director records a series of conversations with the mother and children, alternating their memories of the missing father and the quarrels between the members who survived the cataclysm.

Disenchantment tells us the story of a family that believed itself to be the center of the universe and suddenly finds itself without a job or benefit, very destitute, after the death of a father as prestigious as he is detested, forced to squander what remains of the family heritage to maintain a way of life to which they are accustomed and continue mostly idle and devoted to analysing their personal problems. We can even imagine that they would make money from this film.

But as in any attack on the bourgeois family, it seeks to universalize what is a particularly unfortunate example. Family like real hell.

Good use of Schubert's music and beautiful images of manor houses and Castilian lands. Rough black and white photography.

The end is desolate decadence.