The time of the (orphan) child: Viewing Carla Simón’s Estiu 1993/Summer 1993 (2017) with Carlos Saura’s Cría cuervos/Raise Ravens (1976)

Abstract

The archetype of the orphan has a long history in the western cultural imaginary. In need of culturally and politically legitimized familial structures to ensure the child’s moral and physical needs are met, substitute parental figures loom large in narratives of orphanhood where the (anti-)hero comes good. This article will consider the presentation of female orphans in two films: Carla Simón’s Catalan film Estiu 1993/Summer 1993 (Simón, 2017) presents the story of Frida, who has just lost her parents to AIDS and is relocated to her aunt and uncle’s rural family home, while Saura’s celebrated Cría cuervos/Raise Ravens (Saura, 1976) focuses on Ana, one of three sisters recently orphaned and now under the care of their aunt in late-Francoist Madrid. The article will examine the similarities between the two films’ thematic and formal approaches to the subject matter, attending to their respective socio-historical contexts.