The Representation of the Repression under Franco’s Regime In Butterflie’s Tongue

Abstract

La lengua de las mariposas is a film based on three short stories by the Galician writer Manuel Rivas, “Butterfly’s Tongue”, “Saxophone in the Mist”, and “Carmiña”. Although there are no direct ties among these stories in the volume in which they were published, ¿Qué me quieres, amor? (which is a translation into Castilian of the Galician original titled ¿Qué me queres, amor?), in the present study I offer an analysis of the links established among the stories in order to create a unified cinematographic plot. In particular, I identify a narrative trajectory common to the three stories, according to which the protagonist in each one suffers from a fear that he begins to overcome with the help of a relationship with another individual. Although the protagonist begins an emotional transformation, this process is ultimately impeded, which leaves him in a repressed state. I will explain how the fusion of the three stories in the film is achieved by focusing on the parallels among them, with the result being the creation of a vehicle for visually communicating the socio-political theme that informs the story from which the film derives its title and principal narrative. In my study I will underscore the elements in each story that are exploited in the film in order to amplify this sociopolitical theme, that is, a criticism of the Nationalist educational system and, by extension, of repression under Franco’s regime.