The Disenchantment

Jaime Chávarri's 1976 Spanish documentary concerns the family of Leopoldo Panero, a poet of Francoist Spain. Twelve years after his death, his widow Felicidad Blanc and his three sons, Juan Luis, Leopoldo María and Michi, speak on camera about their father and about their relationships with each other. As they talk, the family myth comes apart. The producer Elías Querejeta offered the project to Chávarri as an alternative after the authorities refused to authorise his idea of filming inside a psychiatric hospital. Released in September 1976, ten months after Franco's death, it became a key work on the fractures of the Francoist bourgeoisie. None of the speakers protects themselves; what emerges is not a family portrait but a wreckage. Who it's for: viewers interested in Spanish documentary, the culture of the transition and family portraits. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding content about mental illness, addiction and familial cruelty, or wanting a structured narrative.