Carlos Saura’s 1975 drama focuses on the story of young girl, Ana, who has lost her mother to a horrible illness and whose father has just died. Ana is a very serious child who is constantly observing those around her. Throughout the traumatic ordeals she suffers, she is hauntingly calm and displays a maturity beyond her age. There is also a dark side to Ana. It is not established whether her illusions – seeing her dead mother, or witnessing a fight between her parents that happened long ago – are due to the development of a trauma-induced mental illness, or simply a surrealistic way for Saura to show what is going on in Ana’s mind. Either way, whether Ana’s mother is physically with Ana or not, her presence is felt like a heavy weight of sadness and longing throughout the film. Ana comes up with a way to see her mother whenever she pleases; she squeezes her eyes shut and when she opens them, the illusion becomes real. We all have moments, just as we cross from consciousness to dreams or from sleeping to waking, when our feelings overwhelm us and we feel the presence of people we have lost, or people who could not possibly be anywhere near us. This is the power of the bond between family members, lovers, and friends. Ana felt such a strong connection to her mother that she was able to conjure a real presence in her mind. She also believed her father had essentially caused her mother’s death.

The character of Ana’s father is portrayed in a complicated manner. The film opens with his painful death; Ana listens as he chokes out his last words. She sees his mistress, half-clothed, flee the room. Ana calmly waits until her father has died, then she goes into his room, takes the glass beside his bedside, and washes it out in the sink. Here is the first instance in which we see Ana’s mother. She always speaks to her daughter with a profound tenderness that shows her unconditional love and affection. It is difficult to know whether this is how Ana perceives her mother – since it is in her imagination – or if her mother was truly that kind. There is a huge difference here between the way Ana’s mother treats her and the way her father treats her.

In the sequences that take us back to the time when Ana’s father was alive, we see him breeze in and out of Ana’s life, hardly noticing her, flirting with women, and ignoring the needs of Ana’s mother. Perhaps the most telling scene is the one in which Ana witnesses a fight between her mother and father that took place a long time ago. Ana’s mother claims that she is sick, very sick. Her father doesn’t understand. This moment epitomizes the disconnect between them.

This film contains many motifs that can be attributed to the theme of death or mortality. The film opens with a painful death. It centers on a young girl who has lost both her parents, and must come to terms with death and growing up without parents. There is a scene in which Ana’s younger sister, Maite, asks her older sister Irene what happens when you die. Irene replies, “Nothing. You just die.” Later, Ana’s mother suffers the agony of her illness, and she cries to Ana, “I want to die, I want to die.” Ana remains unfazed by this. She quietly takes everything in.

The one time Ana displays any emotion beyond her serious, haunting stare is when she conjures her mother into her bedroom and her mother tells her a story. Then, all of a sudden, her mother is gone. Ana begins crying and screaming, calling out for her mother. Here is the first moment we see Ana cry; perhaps this is the first time she realizes her mother is really gone, and the reality of the death hits her. Her Aunt Paulina comes in to comfort her, and begins to tell the same story that Ana’s mother just told her. Ana says quietly, “I wish you were dead.” We see the pure resentment in her eyes. She is a child who has lost the innocence of youth, and she views death more as a solution than a tragedy.

This film is a harrowing journey through the mind of a young girl during a particularly traumatic time in her life, and the surrealistic qualities make it even more powerful. One can also draw parallels between this story and the political conflict in Spain during Franco’s regime. Aunt Paulina comes into their home and takes control of the three orphaned girls, ruling over them with a firm hand disguised by a syrupy sweet demeanor. Overall, the story was masterfully woven together, reality mingling with projections of Ana’s imagination, and brief interruptions by the grown-up Ana, describing the events as someone who has lived through them and is now looking back with a forlorn and resigned perspective.