Long Live Death

Story

Synopsis

At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father's arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for what's going on; sometimes we see him at play, alone or with his friend Thérèse. Oedipal fantasies and a lad's natural curiosity about sex and death mix with his search for his mother's nature and his father's fate. Will Fando survive the search?

Director

Fernando Arrabal

Writers

Claudine Lagrive, Fernando Arrabal

Language

French

Country

France, Tunisia

Release date

12 May 1971

Ensemble

Cast

• Mohamed Bellasoued

  Colonel

• 

  Anouk Ferjac

  The aunt

• 

  Núria Espert

  The mother

• Mahdi Chaouch

  The son

• Ivan Henriques

  Tosan, the father

• Jazia Klibi

  Thérèse, Fando's friend

• Suzanne Comte

  The grandmother

• Víctor García

  Fando, 20 years old