Writers: Sara Azcárate ,Cecilia Bartolomé and Concha Romero
Director: Cecilia Bartolomé
From 1978 ¡Vámonos, Bárbara! is something of a passion project for the ¡Viva! Festival which has hunted down a print and sorted out subtitles for the UK Premiere. The film is shown as a tribute to director Cecilia Bartolomé, one of the first female graduates from Spain’s Official Film School whose career was blighted by Franco’s censorious regime. ¡Vámonos, Bárbara!, therefore, concerns the pros and cons of embracing change and the intimidating impact of freedom.
Despite the reservations of her parents and siblings Ana (Amparo Soler Leal) resolves to separate from her unfaithful husband. With her 12-year-old daughter Bárbara (Cristina Alvarez) Ana returns to her aunt’s farm where she holidayed as a child. When the conservative and judgemental attitudes of old friends become intolerable Ana moves on to a more bohemian group where there is the possibility of a new relationship or perhaps of repeating past mistakes.
A pre-credits sequence sets the comedy-drama tone and sexual politics of the film. Ana, a woman in her forties having sex with a younger man while the ventilator in a nearby fish tank makes suggestive sexual noises.
Bartolomé celebrates the changes in Spanish culture since the end of the Franco regime. Andreu, a gay character, remarks he is no longer considered to be one of the damned. Bartolomé is critical of those who do not take advantage of new opportunities offered by the changes. Ana is angry with her friends who complain about, but refuse to leave, husbands whose behaviour is disgraceful. ¡Vámonos, Bárbara! does not treat the fall of Franco as a panacea and notes the need for further attitudinal change. The homophobic outlook of a potential new suitor is one of the factors which deters Ana from pursuing a relationship.
However, Bartolomé is so anxious to make the small ‘p’ political points she directs like someone in a hurry. Scenes end abruptly feeling unfinished and giving the impression something might have been missed. It results in an episodic, fragmented film in which dialogue tends to forecast plot points. As soon as it is mentioned Ana allowed her husband to use her inheritance to purchase properties you know it will be significant at a later stage.
Bartolomé is not a natural comedy director. Many of the gags feel forced and the comic potential is not always realised. It is easy to see the humorous potential of a scene where a group of jobsworth officials crowd into Ana’s hotel room on the behest of her husband hoping to catch her in some marital indiscretion. But the scene lacks the frantic pace needed to draw out the ridiculous nature of the set-up.
¡Vámonos, Bárbara! is vey much of its time. The soundtrack is in the bright, bouncy style of Music to Watch Girls By. However, attitudes have changed greatly since the film was made particularly in relation to the sexualisation of young people. It is something of a shock to see a prepubescent girl walking around topless. In a comedy sequence a teenager returns early from a rained-off trip to her family’s home where a party has taken place and not only witnesses a couple having sex but accidently almost gets into bed with a middle-aged man. Pre-teen Bárbara dresses as a boy to tantalise Andreu in an uncomfortable scene from which neither character emerges well.
Watched in the present day ¡Vámonos, Bárbara!, not only shows the changes in Spain in the immediate aftermath of the end of the Franco regime but also inadvertently highlights other changes in attitude that needed to be made in 1970’s society.
The Viva Festival runs at HOME in Manchester 10- 30 March 2023.
