TV Series (Dec 2016)
Entre traumatisme originel et choc fondateur : la Guerre Civile espagnole dans la série catalane Temps de silenci (TV3, 2001-2002)
Abstract
The Catalan public TV channel TV3 broadcasted many historical fictions recently, such as La memòria dels Cargols (TV3, 1999), a humoristic show which tells the history of a Catalan family over seven centuries, or Ermessenda (TV3, 2011), a miniserie about Ermessinde of Carcassonne, Countess consort of Barcelona, Girona and Osona in the 11th century. All these productions offer the audience the opportunity of discovering the history of Catalonia, a “stateless nation”, and explore the origins and the construction of a peculiar identity which had to build itself in spite of (or thanks to) many misfortunes and threats. The TV show Temps de silenci deals with history in a very interesting and original way: it tells the frustrated love story between Isabel Dalmau, a wealthy Barcelonese industrial’s daughter, and Ramon Comes, one of her father’s employees, from the last months of the Spanish Second Republic to the Democratic Transition, and during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. One of the most original features of this show is the way it deals with history, which is far from being a simple, rough setting for a romance, as in shows such as the Spanish Amar en tiempos revueltos (TVE, 2005-2012). In Temps de silence, the history of Catalonia appears to be the main character, and the evocation of the Spanish Civil War is worth an analysis: the conflict puts an end to Isabel and Ramon’s relationship as well as to what Catalonia had become during the Second Republic. Through the characters’ destiny, Temps de silenci tells the history of Catalonia along the 20th century as if it was the story of a (re)construction after a sort of original trauma: four decades of repression which aimed at destroying the Catalan culture and identity but appeared to be as well four decades of resistance to defend a language and a culture, a struggle inherited by today’s Catalans.
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