by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
This thought-provoking Spanish film meticulously examines the life of a poet named Panero, who died in Astorga in 1962. In detailed interviews, the writer's wife and three children clinically dissect the man's life and their own lives with him, exposing (sometimes with bitterness) the alienation and dysfunction of the family. At the time of its release, this was considered to be an "anti-family" film, as it raises questions about long-held notions of the wholesomeness and absolute sanctity of familial relations. "Desencanto" translated into English means "disenchantment."
