Indecent Exposures

The political turmoil of the Spanish Civil War, together with the attendant cultural isolationism which Franco's repressive regime imposed upon the Spanish people has ironically fostered a strong tradition of subversive film makers dedicated to challenging the assumed realities of the status quo. Intent upon the ruthless exposure of hypocrisy and repression, the four Spanish directors, Bunuel, Saura, Erice and Almodovar have created a unique and distinctive body of work. Gwynne Edwards' Indecent Exposures gives the reader a first-class introduction to ten of their films, depicting a world where bourgeois values have collapsed, and the facades of good manners, political expediency and social propriety have all been thrown aside. Such cinema classics as Bunuel's Viridiana, Saura's Raise Ravens, Erice's Spirit of the Beehive and Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown are all analyzed in great depth, their major and minor themes discussed and set against both the social and political contexts of the time and the concerns reflected in the directors' own lives. Indecent Exposures is essential reading for anyone interested in Spanish cinema; perhaps one of the most vibrant and iconoclastic contributions to this twentieth-century medium.