'Volver' (film) studied by 16-17yos

[PrincessOfPreschool]

DS doing A level Spanish (Y12) and went to watch this today as its their 'set film' (they study a book and a film in Spanish). He was pretty shocked, and when he told me the storyline, it does sound intensely dark: rape, incest, murder, alcoholism, more attempted incestual rape etc. I know 16yos aren't naïve, but it does seem a bit 'sexually dodgy' (official film critic expression!) and thematically mature. Surely there must be many, many films to choose from - why this one? Can someone in the know explain? DD is doing A level English Lit, and there is nothing on this scale even in Shakespeare!

I don't have my knickers in a twist, but I am intrigued as to what others, especially teachers, think.

It’s a dark comedy, if I remember correctly. I think it’s fine for sixth form.

It’s a 15 and you need lots of things to look at

plid surprised about English I did Chaucer Streetcar and Sylvia Plath!

Is he shocked by the subject matter or just shocked that they are starting to study literature with such serious subject matter at school?

I really enjoyed it as a film. I think he probably expected it to be dull but is surprised they've picked something that will keep them talking? There are a lot of themes so it should be good for expanding his thinking.

We did La Haine for French A-level, pretty sure that’s an 18?

Is that Almodovar? I used to love his films

It's a wonderful film. It's not even the most weird or wonderful of Almadovar's films! If I remember correctly it was the first (or one of the first) of his films to go mainstream in US. His earlier ones are far more shocking!

I would think a teenager who was shocked by it is fairly sheltered or just not used to story telling. It's age appropriate certainly.

Shocked by the subject matter. Not that they saw anything dodgy but obviously the subject of rape, particularly by a father, was shocking to him, bless him. He's not that sheltered, goes to a state school and we live in a fairly druggy, dodgy area, but I guess this is beyond his usual realm of sexual knowledge. He didn't mention the comedy aspect!

Yes it is

Yes I did Chaucer and Sylvia Plath but this film sounds worse. Chaucer is basically medieval Benny Hill and also quite removed from reality in terms of language and era. DD's lit is very tame - Gatsby, Hamlet, A Doll's House, some forest work war poetry I think. She's only Y12 too.

First world war poetry 🙄

I did Suetonius on Tiberius for Latin A level. Anything is pretty tame after that.

We watched this the other day with our 15 and 17 year old teens (y11 & y13). Dark comedy with serious themes. It’s a wonderful film. I think it’s appropriate for the age group - it doesn’t linger on the abuse section, it moves rapidly through it as an explainer for the plot setup for the rest of the film. It’s UK age rating 15.

I would watch it. It’s really excellent. I know our local sixth form have it on the curriculum too.

Just watched trailer and it's Penelope Cruz. Now I want to watch it!

I think though you are downplaying the themes of Chaucer/Hamlet/A Dolls House/Streetcar whilst accentuating the movie they are all the same to me!

I did an essay on the Passion of New Eve (which may well be more controversial now) and Handmaid Tale which also are quite hard hitting

Language A levels are tough it’s not just about the language it is learning history and literature alongside it so it needs multi discipline

You must. She’s wonderful. It’s wonderful.

I was going to mention that DD's French A level equivalent was La Haine.

I guess some of our parents might have raised their eyebrows a little at the bits of Catullus we did for O level Latin back in 1976, had any of us thought to mention it to them.

It’s a really good film but some dark themes. I watched it more times than I care to remember when my son was studying A level Spanish. I did raise a bit of an eyebrow in terms of its suitability for school students but can’t say my DS was shocked.

I have taught film studies A level including some very hard hitting films such as City of God, Trainspotting, La Haine and Talk to Her by Almodovar. 16-18 is exactly the time to be watching/reading films/books that are challenging. I remember as an English literature teacher having a complaint about teaching Frankenstein by Mary Shelley because of all the deaths, which seemed absurd given the context of that novel. I think it's a mistake to shelter our older children from the complexity of human nature.

My daughter is studying La Haine in French at A Level and has appreciated it. I would recommend watching the film (it sounds like you haven't - apologies if you have) and discuss it with your son.