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8. Belle époque (Fernando Trueba, 1992) (with Peter Watson)
This week on Palomitas, we dive into the sunlit, sensual daydream of Belle Époque (Fernando Trueba, 1992) - with special guest Dr. Peter Watson, Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Leeds.
An Oscar-winning comedy of manners and desire, the film follows Fernando, a young army deserter in 1931, who stumbles into a rural paradise presided over by four spirited sisters. What unfolds is a wine-soaked pastoral fantasy - a bittersweet elegy for a lost “age of beauty” just before Spain’s descent into civil war.
We unpack:
Whether the film is a utopian celebration of freedom or a dangerously embellished piece of historical amnesia.
How its carnivalesque masquerade upends traditional gender roles and Spanish machismo.
Why this nostalgic sex comedy became a global phenomenon and Spain’s cinematic calling card in the 1990s.
The film’s lasting legacy: is it a poignant escape, a political fairy tale, or a little of both?
Can you rewrite history as a beautiful dream? Tune in to find out.
Scholarship cited in the episode:
Colmeiro, José F. “Paradise Found? Ana/chronic Nostalgia in Belle Époque.” Film Historia 1, no. 2 (1997): 131-40.
Davies, Ann. Penélope Cruz. Bloomsbury, 2014.
Gasta, Chad M. “(De)constructing and (Re)negotiating Identities: (Re)dressing for Carnival in Fernando Trueba's Belle Époque (1992).” Hispania 87, no. 2 (2004): 177–84.
Jordan, Barry. “Refiguring the Past in the Post-Franco Fiction Film: Fernando Trueba’s Belle Époque.” Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 76, no. 1 (1999): 139–56.
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By Palomitas - the podcast where Spanish cinema comes alive!This week on Palomitas, we dive into the sunlit, sensual daydream of Belle Époque (Fernando Trueba, 1992) - with special guest Dr. Peter Watson, Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Leeds.
An Oscar-winning comedy of manners and desire, the film follows Fernando, a young army deserter in 1931, who stumbles into a rural paradise presided over by four spirited sisters. What unfolds is a wine-soaked pastoral fantasy - a bittersweet elegy for a lost “age of beauty” just before Spain’s descent into civil war.
We unpack:
Whether the film is a utopian celebration of freedom or a dangerously embellished piece of historical amnesia.
How its carnivalesque masquerade upends traditional gender roles and Spanish machismo.
Why this nostalgic sex comedy became a global phenomenon and Spain’s cinematic calling card in the 1990s.
The film’s lasting legacy: is it a poignant escape, a political fairy tale, or a little of both?
Can you rewrite history as a beautiful dream? Tune in to find out.
Scholarship cited in the episode:
Colmeiro, José F. “Paradise Found? Ana/chronic Nostalgia in Belle Époque.” Film Historia 1, no. 2 (1997): 131-40.
Davies, Ann. Penélope Cruz. Bloomsbury, 2014.
Gasta, Chad M. “(De)constructing and (Re)negotiating Identities: (Re)dressing for Carnival in Fernando Trueba's Belle Époque (1992).” Hispania 87, no. 2 (2004): 177–84.
Jordan, Barry. “Refiguring the Past in the Post-Franco Fiction Film: Fernando Trueba’s Belle Époque.” Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 76, no. 1 (1999): 139–56.