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Screening the Transition examines how Spanish cinema produced in the years immediately following Franco’s death articulated—through its narratives and characterizations—the social and cultural challenges encountered during the country’s transition to democracy. These films reflect emergent post-dictatorship realities, including increased openness toward sexuality and nudity; the erosion of traditional family structures; persistent attachments to, and reckonings with, the Francoist past; the development of political plurality and expanded freedom of expression; and various forms of marginalization, whether economic or based on gender and sexuality. In doing so, the analysis conceptualizes Spain’s transition not solely in political terms, as is commonly the case, but as a profoundly personal and affective process.
Bonaddio demonstrates the limitations of cinema in this period, which at times revealed an inability to transcend deep-seated prejudices and forms of reticence cultivated over nearly four decades of authoritarian rule. These limitations surface in the prurient treatment of female nudity and sexual violence; in the deployment of comedy to belittle or trivialize democratic change; in a preference for metaphor and allegory over direct political engagement; and in the restricted investigative ambitions of historical dramas.
Considering both popular and auteur cinema, the book is primarily concerned with how filmmaking registered the difficulties of consigning the dictatorship fully to the past, despite the so-called 'pact of forgetting' promoted by political elites to facilitate national reconciliation.
It provides a timely and valuable contribution to the study of Spanish cinema during the Transition, illuminating a politically charged period through close analysis of key films. By uncovering little-studied works—such as the films of the destape—it fills an important scholarly gap and enriches our understanding of this transformative era.
Film, let us not forget, was the major popular art form of the twentieth century.
Federico Bonaddio, combining the knowledge of a historian with a film critic's eye for
artistic nuance, skilfully employs cinema as a gateway to understanding better
Spain's imperfect transition to democracy. This elegant and eloquent book will
constitute essential reading for courses seeking to introduce students to a pivotal
moment in Spanish history, whose ramifications are still felt in the present day.
— Professor Duncan Wheeler, Chair of Spanish Studies, University of Leeds
This outstanding book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Spain’s
democratic Transition and its cinematic culture. Bonaddio offers a compelling
account of how film illuminates the complex and often fraught process of reckoning
with the legacies of Francoism in the context of the so-called ‘pact of forgetting’. By
recovering and reinterpreting a rich body of works, many of which have been
neglected, the book reshapes debates and offers new directions for the field. It is
essential reading for anyone interested in modern Spain, memory politics, and film
history.
— Sarah Wright, Professor of Hispanic Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London
Federico Bonaddio is Professor of Modern Spanish Studies at King's College London, UK. He has written on twentieth-century Spanish literature, especially Federico García Lorca, as well as on the Spanish folkloric film musical and short film.
List of Figures
Note on Translations
Introduction
Chapter One: Undressing Spain
Chapter Two: A Family Crisis
Chapter Three: The Past Weighs Heavy
Chapter Four: Out of the Silence
Chapter Five: From the Margins
Conclusion
Filmography
Bibliography
Index