A LEVEL SPANISH
Abel – Diego Luna
About a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family
man in his father's absence.
This enigmatic satirical nightmare, set in Mexico, is based on the theme of
patriarchy and the family. Abel is a disturbed nine-year-old in a psychiatric
hospital, having suffered a breakdown and retreated into silence, apparently as a
reaction to his father's abandoning the family three years before. His mother
Cecilia persuades the doctors to allow him home, where Abel begins to speak,
eerily inhabiting the persona of the missing dad: talking sternly to the teenage
daughter, demanding his breakfast etc. The family plays along – and Luna shows
how Abel's delusion answers their need to have a man about the house, an irony
unfolding in tandem with the fact that the errant father, Anselmo is just as much
of a child as Abel.
Abel es un niño de nueve años de edad, cuyo comportamiento y
negativa a hablar lo ha llevado a estar en un centro de salud
mental cerca de su casa. Su madre soltera, convencida de que
reunirle con su hermano y su hermana podría ayudar en su
situación, persuade al doctor de Abel para que deje libre al niño
durante una semana. Con su padre ausente, Abel se convierte en
una poco convencional figura paternal que conseguirá unir a la
familia.
Alternate vocabulary:
El Abel del título es un niño autista y extraño criado en un
centro que vuelve a casa con su madre y sus dos hermanos.
Se toma a todos los efectos por el jefe de la familia, sin que
nadie se lo discuta, hasta que un día el padre vuelve a casa.
, “Para Cecilia, ser madre en una familia monoparental es difícil, pero es mejor sin Anselmo que con él”.
¿Hasta qué punto estás de acuerdo con esta afirmación? Justifica tu respuesta.
Anselmo que con él”. ¿Hasta qué punto estás de acuerdo con esta afirmación? Justifica tu respuesta.
Possible content
• The director makes it clear from the start that Cecilia is surviving on limited means, without a second
wage coming in; the house is shabby with work unfinished and possessions have to be pawned for cash.
• Cecilia tries to combine looking after the children with dressmaking at home to earn some money; it is
clear she gets no support from the absent Anselmo.
• When Anselmo returns, far from easing the financial burden, his aim is actually to get money from her
by selling the stalls where Cecilia sells her goods.
• In the first few days of Abel’s return home, the atmosphere is tense; Selene and Paul are uncooperative
and Cecilia screams that she cannot cope alone, especially now.
• However, when Anselmo does return, the confrontations between Abel and Anselmo are even more
unbearable and lead to relapses in Abel’s mental state.
• Without Anselmo, the family find a way of making their strange new relationship function and, for
much of the time, the new dynamic works and calm prevails.
• In terms of their personal relationship, the audience learns to despise Anselmo for his callous
treatment of Cecilia; he has not been away working in the USA as he claimed but living with his mistress
in a nearby town.
• When he jokes about this to his friend Fili and then tries to force himself on Cecilia, after accusing her
of sleeping with someone else, the audience knows Cecilia is better off without him.
• Anselmo’s ‘gifts’ to his family confirm our condemnation of him as a husband and father; the present
for Paul is broken and the digital camera for Selene contains photos of Anselmo and his mistress.
• The dilemma for the audience is, having learned to despise Anselmo, we are then presented with the
debate as to which parent is doing the right thing for Abel.
• Cecilia goes along with Abel’s delusion, believing it is for the best and also because it keeps him at
home and out of hospital.
• Anselmo shows how it is a dangerous delusion that could lead to Abel’s harming himself and possibly
others; he has Abel taken back to hospital.
• We know that he is an abysmal husband and father but we do not know who is in the right regarding
the appropriate care of their son.
Abel – Diego Luna
About a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family
man in his father's absence.
This enigmatic satirical nightmare, set in Mexico, is based on the theme of
patriarchy and the family. Abel is a disturbed nine-year-old in a psychiatric
hospital, having suffered a breakdown and retreated into silence, apparently as a
reaction to his father's abandoning the family three years before. His mother
Cecilia persuades the doctors to allow him home, where Abel begins to speak,
eerily inhabiting the persona of the missing dad: talking sternly to the teenage
daughter, demanding his breakfast etc. The family plays along – and Luna shows
how Abel's delusion answers their need to have a man about the house, an irony
unfolding in tandem with the fact that the errant father, Anselmo is just as much
of a child as Abel.
Abel es un niño de nueve años de edad, cuyo comportamiento y
negativa a hablar lo ha llevado a estar en un centro de salud
mental cerca de su casa. Su madre soltera, convencida de que
reunirle con su hermano y su hermana podría ayudar en su
situación, persuade al doctor de Abel para que deje libre al niño
durante una semana. Con su padre ausente, Abel se convierte en
una poco convencional figura paternal que conseguirá unir a la
familia.
Alternate vocabulary:
El Abel del título es un niño autista y extraño criado en un
centro que vuelve a casa con su madre y sus dos hermanos.
Se toma a todos los efectos por el jefe de la familia, sin que
nadie se lo discuta, hasta que un día el padre vuelve a casa.
, “Para Cecilia, ser madre en una familia monoparental es difícil, pero es mejor sin Anselmo que con él”.
¿Hasta qué punto estás de acuerdo con esta afirmación? Justifica tu respuesta.
Anselmo que con él”. ¿Hasta qué punto estás de acuerdo con esta afirmación? Justifica tu respuesta.
Possible content
• The director makes it clear from the start that Cecilia is surviving on limited means, without a second
wage coming in; the house is shabby with work unfinished and possessions have to be pawned for cash.
• Cecilia tries to combine looking after the children with dressmaking at home to earn some money; it is
clear she gets no support from the absent Anselmo.
• When Anselmo returns, far from easing the financial burden, his aim is actually to get money from her
by selling the stalls where Cecilia sells her goods.
• In the first few days of Abel’s return home, the atmosphere is tense; Selene and Paul are uncooperative
and Cecilia screams that she cannot cope alone, especially now.
• However, when Anselmo does return, the confrontations between Abel and Anselmo are even more
unbearable and lead to relapses in Abel’s mental state.
• Without Anselmo, the family find a way of making their strange new relationship function and, for
much of the time, the new dynamic works and calm prevails.
• In terms of their personal relationship, the audience learns to despise Anselmo for his callous
treatment of Cecilia; he has not been away working in the USA as he claimed but living with his mistress
in a nearby town.
• When he jokes about this to his friend Fili and then tries to force himself on Cecilia, after accusing her
of sleeping with someone else, the audience knows Cecilia is better off without him.
• Anselmo’s ‘gifts’ to his family confirm our condemnation of him as a husband and father; the present
for Paul is broken and the digital camera for Selene contains photos of Anselmo and his mistress.
• The dilemma for the audience is, having learned to despise Anselmo, we are then presented with the
debate as to which parent is doing the right thing for Abel.
• Cecilia goes along with Abel’s delusion, believing it is for the best and also because it keeps him at
home and out of hospital.
• Anselmo shows how it is a dangerous delusion that could lead to Abel’s harming himself and possibly
others; he has Abel taken back to hospital.
• We know that he is an abysmal husband and father but we do not know who is in the right regarding
the appropriate care of their son.
