403 Crí­a cuervos

[Lemmy Caution]

I liked the repetition in the film.
Sometimes obvious (but cryptic) as with the chicken feet.
Or more subtle, as when the mother passes by the bedroom door a number of times before she enters.
The hypnotic song Porque Te Vas gets I think 4 plays.
I like how the first listen gets interrupted by the aunt, so Anna restarts the 45 record after she leaves.
There is of course Anna washing the glass and putting it back among the others.
And sometimes things are altered on second go-round, as when Anna touches her father's corpse when she finds him, but then refuses when she is asked to at the wake.
________________

At the end of the film we hear the elder sister Irene telling her dream, and we get a glimpse of how she too has been traumatized by the death of their parents. I really liked the ending -- with vacation over the girls venture into the world, heading to school. It reinforces how this was a unique period of time, and the way a summer can be perceived as such a long full length of time when you are a child.

[Matt]

I have been struggling, since discussion has opened, to say something interesting about the repetition of the song, but I can't seem to think of anything beyond "I love it." I'm always a big fan of repetition and variation in film (and music and literature), but I can't articulate what it is about it that I like and that gives me such a thrill.

[Mr Sausage]

I'm always a big fan of repetition and variation in film (and music and literature), but I can't articulate what it is about it that I like and that gives me such a thrill.

Big Thomas Bernhard fan?

[Matt]

Have not read him, actually, but thanks for the recommendation.

[jindianajonz]

I just think the song is as great as it is infectious. I still have it stuck in my head days later.

[Gregory]

If your average film used the device of using a song repeatedly, I don't think it would work , but it fits so well in Cría Cuervos. Ana seems like she's been forced into a kind of premature adolescence by the trauma she's experienced and by her relationship with her aunt, and retreating to one's room and playing a record at times of crisis seems like such a quintessentially teenager thing to do. And at the same time, wanting to hear the same song over and over is such a nine-year-old (and younger) thing that this flourish in the film is just perfect. I love the way Ana mouths the words to the song, and this scene with the sisters dancing with each other to it is such a pleasurable respite in the middle of this troubled, melancholy story.

[knives]

Have not read him, actually, but thanks for the recommendation.

Sausage book recs are the main reason I stay around.

[jindianajonz]

If anyone is interested, here are translated lyrics to the song:

The sun shines through my window today
And my heart feels sad while looking at the city
Because you are leaving

Just like every night, I woke up thinking of you
And I saw as all the hours passed by in my clock
Because you are leaving

All my love promises will be gone with you
You will forget me, you will forget me
Next to the station I will cry like a child
Because you are leaving, because you are leaving

Under the shadow of a street lamp they will sleep
All the things left unsaid will sleep there
They will wait next to a clock's hands
They will wait for all those hours that we had yet to live

[YnEoS]

When the song first came on during the film, I was really hoping they were going to let it play in its entirety, completely disappointed when the aunt made Ana turn it off, then absolutely thrilled when she proceeded to start it again and let it play out in its entirety. I was also eagerly anticipating its return at the very final moments of the film.

[Mr Sausage]

Have not read him, actually, but thanks for the recommendation.

Sausage book recs are the main reason I stay around.

[zedz]

I have been struggling, since discussion has opened, to say something interesting about the repetition of the song, but I can't seem to think of anything beyond "I love it." I'm always a big fan of repetition and variation in film (and music and literature), but I can't articulate what it is about it that I like and that gives me such a thrill.

I'll give it a go: I think this is one of those rare films that replicates, to a degree, how people consume great pop music. 'Porque te vas' is a ridiculously infectious song that the characters and the film just wants to listen to again and again and again. (EDIT: And Gregory is correct that this is especially appropriate with a 9-year-old protagonist.)

The 'putting the song on again' moment reminds me of the fantastic moment in Assayas' L'eau froide when, in the middle of the night at a wild teenage party, as kids are dancing anarchically around a bonfire, somebody realises that the music that happens to be playing then and there (CCR's 'Up Around the Bend') is so absolutely perfect for that precise place and time that they lift the needle off the 45 mid-song and start it all over again, just so they can prolong a perfect moment.

[Lemmy Caution]

I read somewhere -- wiki? -- that Anna identifies with the song because the singer is English and sings in Spanish with an accent similar to her mother. I think that overthinks things, and I'm not sure in the film her mother is supposed to have any English links or be other than Spanish. I thought the form and content of the song fit the mood of the film perfectly. It's a perky bouyant tune but with a sad message -- much as childhood is supposed to be a happy time but is sad and full of loss for Anna. I think she identifies with the sad story -- we see her mouthing the words -- even as the music gives her some comfort/pleasure. It's a good choice to repeat throughout the film, due to the hypnotic quality of the song. I also appreciate how the 45 record and portable record player are such nice artifacts of the era.

I found Porque Te Vas to be a rather peculiar song. It seemed fairly repetitive and has slightly odd clunky cymbal beats, yet it's oddly affecting and catchy. It's fairly different from most of what I listen to -- but I was curious enough to download the song after I first saw the film a few years back. And the song has stayed in fairly constant MP3 rotation since. Maybe I'll should track down some other Jeanette tunes.

[jindianajonz]

I think it was the essay that stated the mother was played by an English or American actress (I can't remember which- hell it may have been Canadian) and had undubbed (and therefore accented) lines when she played the role of the mother, but they got a native spanish speaker to dub the lines when she played Ana as an adult. So yeah, the mother being some form of Anglican was intentional.

[Mr Sausage]

I think it was the essay that stated the mother was played by an English or American actress (I can't remember which- hell it may have been Canadian) and had undubbed (and therefore accented) lines when she played the role of the mother, but they got a native spanish speaker to dub the lines when she played Ana as an adult. So yeah, the mother being some form of Anglican was intentional.

You didn't recognize Geraldine Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's daughter, as the mother?

[MichaelB]

She was also Carlos Saura's long-term lover (they'd already had a child together) and she'd been fluent in French and Spanish since childhood, a legacy of an expensive Swiss education.

[Mr Sausage]

She was also Carlos Saura's long-term lover (they'd already had a child together) and she'd been fluent in French and Spanish since childhood, a legacy of an expensive Swiss education.

And considering he probably had her in mind for the part the whole time, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he did indeed choose the song because the singer's English accent would remind his heroine of her mother (he was certainly aware of Geraldine's accent enough to dub her when she plays the older Ana).

I wouldn't say this is over-thinking anything. I can think of an even more subtle example of something similar: Benjy in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is always watching the golfers on the course near the house, and he always moans whenever they call out. Eventually the reader figures out (or not) that it's because the golfers keep yelling for the caddy--Caddy also being the name of Benjy's beloved absent sister.

[zedz]

So yeah, the mother being some form of Anglican was intentional.

Wow, that was a subtext that I completely missed. Did she sing some particular hymn that tipped you off?

[jindianajonz]

D'oh! Clearly that doesn't mean what I intended it to mean.

[Drucker]

Another idea I'd like to bring up. My memory is a little fuzzy, but is it a reach to suspect, perhaps, that Ana's mother is her father's wife against her will at all? I certainly got this vibe a bit while watching the film. Could the political power of the husband be so great that Ana's mother was put in a position where she sort of 'had to' marry this man?

[Sloper]

Interesting discussion - this was my first Saura and I was completely spellbound all the way through. So glad this film club thing spurred me into getting hold of it.

Lots of great comments on 'Porque te Vas', which I think will be stuck in my head for the remainder of my life. Yes, there's a kind of prematurely adolescent quality to these scenes, but another thing that rings so true about Ana's repeated recourse to this song is the way that she re-appropriates it to her own circumstances. Everyone does this with songs, but I think children especially. I often re-listen to songs from my childhood and realise I totally 'misinterpreted' them when I was seven or eight.

In this case, the song obviously taps into Ana's terrible sense of loss and abandonment following the death of her mother. However, there's a particular resonance to that line, 'You'll forget me, you'll forget me', and the identification here goes much deeper than simply losing a provider of love and care - it's also about the disillusionment that Ana has suffered via her mother's unhappy marriage and agonising death, and the sense that her mother has 'forgotten' her, because she's not looking down from heaven or watching over her at night. She's just gone.

The 'it's all a lie' moment is absolutely devastating: when Ana stops her ears after this scene, she isn't just shutting out the sounds of her mother's suffering, she's also trying to un-hear what her mother has said. But I think it's misguided to judge the mother too harshly for disillusioning her daughter like this. Ana realises that her mother has had a seriously raw deal in the latter part of her life (which is why she 'kills' her father) - she's been fed various 'lies' she would have been better off without. Maybe Ana will be better off without them too.

Adults lie to children all the time, and often this isn't such a bad thing - sometimes children do need to be protected from discovering certain truths before they're mature enough to deal with them - but more often it just fucks people up. Anyway, that seems to be the film's attitude (judging from a first viewing), so I think it's firmly on the mother's side in that scene. And there's a big difference between that intimate and profound moment between the mother and daughter, and the gossipy tales that Rosa hands down to the children... I'll try and watch the film again and contribute more in the next couple of days.

[swo17]

The copy I ordered of the BFI last month finally showed up from Amazon! I don't have a lot of time to post but thought I'd share a couple of brief thoughts. What struck me the most about this film was how well it conveyed that whole "watch out, status quo" spirit of youthful rebellion. This can be a pretty boring sentiment when expressed by a teenager, but it's a whole different matter when it's a child repeating "I want you dead" over and over. Especially when that child is Ana Torrent.

Like others, I too love the repetition of "Porque Te Vas." Another thing I tend to love is when a film (like this one) runs out of credits and just lets the song take its time to finish over a black screen. This almost seems like an act of willful rebellion that implicates the audience, i.e. "I don't care that the movie's over, Mom--I'm finishing this song!"

[rohmerin]

in France La caza has been ¿restored? and yes, re-released in cinemas. May be it'll be the 2nd Saura's to be known worldwide but instead Bergmanesque masterpieces La prima Angélica and El jardín de las delicias are waiting. BTW: Spanish dads are dreadful.

Jeanette's greatest hit was Soy rebelde (I am rebel) por qué te vas was a hit but she's remembered here in Spain for soy rebelde (too much corny for me)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemBa7LAftk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[yoloswegmaster]

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but I was at a screening of Crí­a cuervos yesterday that had a Q&A with Anna Saura Ramón (Carlos Saura's daughter), and she provided more background on the inclusion of Porque te Vas throughout the film. Like how Carlos Saura first heard the song before filming began and liked it so much that he decided to add it. However, he was having issues including it since A) the song wasn't in the catalogues due to its lack of popularity, and B) the producers were against the inclusion of it, saying that it didn't fit the film, and even did a test shoot with the young actors dancing to it (which wasn't successful). Even though they didn't change their opinions, Saura decided to include it anyways, which we all know was for the better. He ended up meeting with the singer (Jeanette) a couple years ago, where she thanked them for making the song as popular as it is today.

[yoloswegmaster]

A new 4K restoration will be playing at Cannes this year:

This version was restored in 2026 by the Cherry Towers laboratory (Madrid) from the original image and sound negative digitized in 4K. The entire process was carried out by Video Mercury Films, which also handled the color grading as well as the digital restoration of the image and sound.

Hopefully we see a Criterion or Radiance release sometime in the future.

[MichaelB]

The BFI version is still in print as far as I can see, and they’re pretty conscientious about taking things off the market when they lose the rights.