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What is it exactly that
takes place in The Saragossa Manuscript? Is Alphonse really a descendant
of the Gomelez or is he just being tempted by evil spirits so that he can
prove the solidity of his Christian faith? Is his whole story true, or
is it just a fictitious account found in a book by the original narrator/author?
In other words, is the author of the novel - and the director of the movie
- trying to entertain you? or to enlighten you? Or are they both being
very postmodern about the whole thing? In fact, the protagonists themselves
are well aware of this blend of reality and fiction in which they have
been involved, as can be seen in this short
fragment of the film. |
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Remember how the story repeatedly uses two of everything:
the two hanged brothers, Emina and Zibelda, Camilla and Inezilla, Toledo
the libertine and Aguillar the pensive, the Caballist and the Mathematician...
Duality? Duality of reality? Magical and mathematical? Spiritual and scientific?
Real and unreal? The two Gomelez princesses' cave is both a sumptuous palace
hall and a dirty hovel; their brothers are at once dead and very much alive;
their Muslim Sultan is at the same time a Christian Hermit. The East and
West come together in Alphonse Van Worden. Remember how, at the end of
the movie, one Alphonse remains in this world while another leaves with
the Gomelez girls? Or, for that matter, Alphonse's father's favorite sport,
duels? |
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Much of The Saragossa Manuscript's recent
reputation in Europe has been due to its European aspects: we move between
Spain and Flanders with the speed of a TGV. Alphonse Van Worden is a European
seduced or tempted by the exotic Orientalism of the Gomelez. The present
'European' reading of the film is enhanced by a strange coincidence: Penderecki's
music includes, in the opening scene of the film, a powerful quotation
from Beethoven's Ode to Joy, now the official anthem of the European
Union. |
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