The Two Cines Con Nio by Erin K. Hogan

Author:Erin K. Hogan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Figure 5.1 Marcelino (Pablito Calvo) explores the attic in Marcelino pan y vino.

Figure 5.2 Javi (Andoni Erburu) explores the basement in Secretos del corazón.

The other haunted space, according to Juan, is the mansion of their Tía María’s (Charo López) lover Ricardo (Chete Lera). However, this time, Javi reveals the secret of María’s affair with Ricardo to Juan. This man is the monster’s equivalent in Secretos del corazón, likened to the blow-up Michelin Man his reflection replaces in a store window while Javi strolls with María. The image recalls the transition from Ana to Frankenstein’s monster in El espíritu de la colmena. Javi’s approach to the mansion, beyond its spider web-designed metal gate, prioritises sound over sight since Javi is unable to get a clear view of its interior. The camera shows a close-up on Javi’s friend Carlos’s (Íñigo Garcés) ear as he confuses the sounds of the house with hauntings. Again, a jarring noise, that of a train barrelling by, alarms the boys and interrupts their snooping. The Gothic train indicates, as Georgieva notes, mystery, horror, and a desire to uncover past secrets (2013: 168). Javi reveals the ‘secrets of the heart’ here as well, when he spies on María and Ricardo and discovers a heart in an ornament at the front door. The ‘monster’ Ricardo is no one to fear. Those tagged as monstrous (the maqui or Ricardo) simply do not comply with the moral standards of Francoism. Ricardo’s monstrosity stems from his extramarital affair with María.

Javi’s prosopopeia reveals the secrets of the past and present, although the film demonstrates ambivalence regarding righting past wrongs.2 His approach to his ‘father’s’ armchair allows him to expose an infidelity and his investigation at the ‘uninhabited house’ permits the revelation of another. These transgressions are accepted and not judged by the film, although the union of their expectant mother to their ‘uncle’ is sanctified by the Church in the end. Perhaps by accepting the actions of his mother and ‘uncle’, Javi does not fall prey to the same repressive thinking of his Tía Rosa (Vicky Peña), the Francoist moral arbiter of the family. I would argue that Javi does not ultimately follow his mother’s advice to keep quiet about his fears and discoveries. In fact, his coming-of-age largely rests on his disobedience to authority figures and overcoming his fears. Javi lies to the priest director of his Salesian school play (Armendáriz also attended a Salesian school in Pamplona (Gómez 1998: 83)) in order to make possible Juan’s return from expulsion to reclaim his starring role. Rob Stone contrasts Secretos to other films of the cines con niño on this subject: ‘Javi’s eventual crossing of the river, his triumphant breaking of the cobweb, are signs that his new generation would beat its irrational fears and soon substitute a progressive, liberal Spain for the terror of an annihilation that never happened’ (2002: 103). Overcoming the fear of ghosts is central to our next film for discussion, El espinazo del diablo.

El espinazo del diablo (Del

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