Don Quichotte (1965) - full transcript

This is the frontispiece of the

English edition from 1617.

And this is the first depiction of

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Picasso's Don Quixote from 1955,

one of the more recent ones.

The most famous one, however,

by Gustav Doré, dates back to 1863.

Although these three portrayals differ,

they agree upon the essentials.

Here's what Cervantes says:

The age of our Hidalgo

flirted with fifty.

He was of sturdy constitution,

only a bit thin, lean of face.

Furthermore, he was tall

with wrinkled arms and legs,

a shrunken face and somewhat

crooked eagle nose

with a large and

droopy moustache.

There isn't a single word

about a beard.

Rather an omission than an

actual proof of beardlessness.

In fact, there is a passage in

the second book where we can see him

having his beard washed

by the dutchess's maids

in a joyful atmosphere

instead of having it shaved.

This scene, along with

the fashion of the time

and the portrait of

the author himself

speak in favour of a

bearded Don Quixote.

Let's follow the chronology:

These popular engravings by

Jacques Lagniet, which date from 1640,

are seen as legitimate

predecessors of comics,

the only difference being the text in

form of a comment instead of a dialog.

On the top of the engraving, we read:

Here's a present day knight

being taken care of by his host

and two maidens.

What stands the most is the

burlesque character of the situation,

like this scene in which the host helps

Don Quixote by pouring the drink

into his mouth through a pipe because

our knight refuses to remove his helmet.

On the other hand, there are

some shocking imprecisions,

for example, Sancho being represented

as tall as his master.

However, we will soon discover

the difference between the two.

These English illustrations from 1687

are much more refined

than the previous ones

and focus more on the setting:

Don Quixote being promoted

to a knight before an inn

Don Quixote tilting

at windmills

Don Quixote takes a flock of sheep

for a marching army

Don Quixote saves

a convoy of prisoners

And here is Don Quixote

in an 18th century painting

by Charles-Antoine Coypel,

a history painter appointed by

the Gobelins Manufactory in 1716

to make a series of

twenty-five tapestry cartoons,

later often reproduced

by various artists.

Coypel's influence was apparent

throughout the century.

The only ones who resisted his spell

were individualists like Natoire,

another author of tapestry cartoons,

Gillot, sharing a similar

style with Watteau,

Fragonard, with his

characteristic hatching

and finally Goya, who sadly left us

with a single drawing:

Don Quixote in his Study.

And since we're in Spain,

let's have a quick glance

at these drawings,

which date back to 1780.

What's most typical about them,

apart from the Spanish setting,

is a tendency towards liberation

which paved the way

for the 19th century art.

Now, let's cast some light

on the French romantics:

in Devéria's work from 1821

or Charlet's from 1830...

the lines are evidently

getting more simple and bold,

almost on the brink

of caricature,

yet failing to successfully

portray a character.

In 1853, a step forward was

made by the painter Decamps.

Here, the duo of Sancho Panza

and Don Quixote

forms an indivisible whole.

The knight and his squire

oppose and complement

each other

similar to two geometric shapes:

a line and a circle.

One represents roundness,

the other straightness.

Tony Johannot will base

his interpretation

on the very same principle.

Everything is put to the service

of portraying Don Quixote

as a sharp, angular and

scraggy character.

The main objective was to exploit

Don Quixote's skinniness

in a comical manner.

Staying true to the text,

the depiction points out

the essence of his structure

along with his funny side.

Here's an example:

the 17th and 18th century editions

often showed a scene

with Don Quixote

standing unstably on his horse

while the skillful Maritorne

holds him with a rope

from the inn window.

The moment of loss of

balance is presented...

when Rocinante slips away,

leaving our hero hanging.

Or maybe, it's better to show

the aftermath of a comic situation,

rather than show it happening.

It's the same scene

Tonny Johannot

used to express the lengthiness

of Don Quixote's body.

However, thanks to Gustav Doré,

the image of Don Quixote

has changed forever.

Don Quixote is finally

taken seriously

as the puppet makes way

for the thinker.

Furthermore, certain similarities

with Christ are not to be neglected.

This new incarnation

introduces the pure thought

which goes far beyond any

material contingency

while feeding off

its own chimeras.

Coming down to earth is often

accompanied by humiliation,

cruelty and mockery.

The landscape regains its importance,

becoming both fantastical

and mysterious.

It's unclear whether these rocks,

these mountains and horizons

belong to the real world or

to the hero's imagination.

Daumier continued his search

for allegory in 28 drawings made

in the final years of his career,

more precisely from 1860 to 1870.

Behold the work of

the greatest painter

who has ever dealt

with this subject!

No room for anecdotes.

Everything is expressed

in a game of lines and forms.

The comic side of

Don Quixote vanishes

while the idealist kicks in.

This can best be seen in this caricature

accompanied by the following words:

Here's the one who's

always brave, kind,

generous, imprudent...

the one who gave up

his spear for a quill

in order to confront the banalities

offending his noble soul.

Salvador Dali, whose resemblance

to Cervantes' hero was remarkable,

was the only artist

in the last century

who portrayed Don Quixote free

from the influence of the previous

works by Doré or Daumier.

Choosing the road less travelled,

Don Quixote lets the fool overshadow

the thinker and goes on spinning

like a spinning top, which,

if you take a closer look,

reveals an entire army.

However, this madness

is called paranoia...

but that's only an introduction

to a form of obsessive criticism

which the painter identifies with the

process of the artistic creation itself.

The folly of carefully calculated

shots from arquebus...

as well as filling

rhinoceros's horns with ink...

is nothing compared to

the fruits of Dali's rigor

brought to the point of

extreme meticulousness.

It's clear from these examples

to what extent painting has enriched

our knowledge of Cervantes' novel.

On the other hand,

it also impoverishes it,

making us forget about

the surrounding lively crowds

for the sake of the main characters

and the landscape.

Only the early illustrators

knew how to depict

the crowd with precision.

Everything about this crowd

is important.

Every secondary role

has its purpose.

Every character our hero

crosses his path with

helps us understand him better

and locate him in the

material (spatial) context.

Every time a certain character

appears on a higher ground

means he's suffering from a more

severe form of madness.

Let's take Cardenio's example

because an unrequited love

made him insane and

drove him to the mountains...

or that of shepherdess Marcele

who values her own freedom

to the point of cruelty,

the very same cruelty that led

a young man kill himself.

Taking her reasons into account,

Cervantes doesn't miss the opportunity

to reveal her impossible striving for

purity also known as angelism.

The additional stories from

the first part of Don Quixote

are not only digressions but

also variations on the theme of

the power of obsession.

The story of The Curious Impertinent

speaks of Anselmo,

a young man from Florence,

who, like Don Quixote,

suffers from hypertrophied

imagination

manifesting itself through

pathological jealousy.

In order to be sure, he asks

his best friend Lothario

to test the fidelity

of his wife Camilla.

Lothario unwillingly

accepts and eventually

wins her heart.

To remove all doubt,

she plots a scene

in which she fakes

her own suicide

while Lothario is trying

to seduce her

with Anselmo hiding

behind a curtain.

And he who doubted everything,

suddenly believed everything.

Another purpose

of these digressions

is to show that reality

has in store more

surprises than fiction.

While Dulcinea appears as

an ugly, vulgar peasant girl,

a complete opposite to the person

from her admirer's imagination,

the women Don Quixote encounters

are very beautiful,

although that's not

always apparent

from the engravings.

Take the example of Dorothy who,

disguised as a shepherd,

washes her feet in a brook.

It's well known that Cervantes

was held prisoner for six years

by the Barbarians. He attempted

an escape several times,

which almost led him to the gallows.

The story of Zoraida,

a young Moorish woman

who disobeys her father's will and

runs away with a brave christian slave,

is not more fantastic than

the life of the author himself.

Finally, the second part of the book,

written ten years later,

leads us to a disquieting thought

that no one can escape the virus

of Don Quixote's madness.

The hero is no longer confronted

with harsh reality,

but with an artificial universe...

like when Don Quixote

encountered actors in the cart,

taking their masks and costumes

for their real characters...

or when he unsuccessfully tried

to provoke this gracious lion...

or even when he slaughtered

Master Peter's puppets

taking them for Moors,

falling victim to a perfect illusion

which would deceive even

the shrewdest of spectators.

The barren landscapes from the beginning

are transformed into a festive decor.

Our lonely, gloomy Don Quixote

puts away his armour

and joins a company

hungry for divertissement,

which would later be

heavily criticized by Pascal.

This company jealously

keeps the grain of folly,

paradoxically praised by Erasmus

a hundred years earlier.

One of the most absurd scenes is the one

with a wooden horse (Clavileno).

Don Quixote and Sancho are tricked

into believing they are actually

flying on the horse

while the assistants are simulating

rushing wind and fire

with special requisites.

Finally, everything is going

our hero's way

after he's confronted

with the image of himself.

He's no longer striving to be

Lancelot or Amadis

but Don Quixote.

Here lies the unique depth

of this masterpiece

in which reality and fiction

mirror each other,

endlessly exchanging their reflections.

In the final chapter, Don Quixote is

defeated by the Knight of the White Moon

on a beach in Barcelona.

This scene leaves us with

an unsettling feeling

not merely caused by

the hero's peaceful death.

Lastly, a few words

about Sancho Panza

whose alleged wisdom

isn't but foolishness.

He's a simple rather

than a cultivated man,

but unlike Don Quixote,

his tragedy lies

in turning into an idealist

towards the end of the novel

and paying the inevitable price

for having such illusions,

which is particularly evident

in the bullying scene.

Another case of bullying, however,

this time in a figurative manner,

comes in a scene in which

Sancho wakes up only to find out

his beloved donkey got stolen

by Gines de Pasamonte.

He follows his master only out of

greed and hunger for governance.

At some point, though,

the locals name him governor,

only to make fun of him.

They play a thousand pranks on Sancho,

his table is magnificently set,

but as soon as he starts eating,

doctor Pedro Recio

gets the table cleared...

or when they lock him in an armour in

order to protect him from a fake mutiny.

And yet, despite all the obstacles,

he successfully fulfils

his duties of a judge,

while, thanks to his earthly wisdom,

he keeps outsmarting the thugs

better than anyone else.

On all these 18th century engravings

we continue to discover

a baroque universe

composed of various

symbols and illusions.

If it's true that this universe poses

a threat to the image of Don Quixote,

it still doesn't come

without a positive side,

revealing new aspects

of an illusion

which, for Cervantes,

at the same time represents

the source of and the cure

for all our misfortunes.

Reason will eventually deliver

our hero from madness,

although we are

perfectly aware that

there is reason in madness

and madness in reason.

The ambiguity which

underlies the novel

cannot be easily perceived

at first sight.

This novel should not be identified

with various interpretations it inspired

as it was often the case.

It's a book... one of the

greatest in fact...

and it should be read.