El Sótano de Radio Belgrado · Emilio Lopez Santos

Me siento extraña

March 8, 2026·1 hr 6 min·5 clips

The host reveals a restored 1977 Spanish film with lesbian themes that caused a scandal and reflects Spain's political transition.

1. El Sótano de Radio Belgrado opens its new 'Mandanga Soft' cycle with Me siento extraña (1977), a recently 4K-restored Spanish film starring Bárbara Rey and Rocío Durcal. 2. The two regular co-hosts present without guests; both identify as genre cinema enthusiasts and one specialises in Spanish transition-era film. 3. The episode's central thesis is that Me siento extraña is a serious political film about Spain's democratic transition that has been wrongly reduced to its erotic surface by both its 1977 marketing and its current LGBTQ reclamation. 4. The film was released during Spain's first democratic elections, in a cultural moment when Francoist censorship was lifting and cine de destape (uncovering cinema) was emerging as a commercial genre. 5. Homosexuality was still a criminal offence in Spain in 1977, making the film's relatively respectful treatment of a lesbian relationship between its protagonists genuinely transgressive for its context. 6. The hosts note the film drew over a million viewers primarily on the appeal of seeing two major Spanish actresses in an erotic scene, but argue this 'call effect' obscures the film's political substance. 7. The political critique is focused on former Franco-regime figures performing democratic values while conspiring privately: one scene shows a character displaying a photo of the king with a hidden Franco portrait in the same drawer. 8. One host argues that if the film were re-shot today with updated costumes and production design, it would function just as effectively as political commentary — he considers it essentially unchanged in its critique. 9. Bárbara Rey is described as one of the most significant figures in Spanish celebrity journalism, particularly because of her reported long-term relationship with King Juan Carlos I, though this is only alluded to rather than confirmed. 10. Rocío Durcal suffered a broken jaw during filming, requiring script rewrites; some press archive accounts suggest her husband may have been responsible in an attempt to prevent her from completing the film. 11. After production, Rocío Durcal publicly rejected the film, claiming the final scene had not been in the script — a claim Bárbara Rey publicly contradicted, arguing the entire narrative points toward that scene. 12. Durcal left Spain for Mexico to pursue a singing career, which one host describes as a legendary outcome; she appeared in almost no screen work for 15-20 years after the film. 13. The character Lucio — the village idiot who enjoys an absurd reputation as a local sexual legend — is identified as the film's most analytically layered figure: his reputation is constructed by the male village community, but the only actual sex he achieves is attempted sexual assault. 14. The Marta character (Bárbara Rey) uses her physical attraction to manipulate the village men into doing labour for her, which the hosts read as a conscious and dangerous power game that the film ultimately shows as having real consequences. 15. The hosts compare the film's political structure to Straw Dogs (1971) and to the Spanish transition-era films El crimen de Cuenca and Matar al Nani, arguing this generation of directors was less politically didactic than contemporary filmmakers. 16. The relationship between the two women is discussed as ambiguous: one host argues it is not a lesbian love story but a deep codependency between two women who connect strongly and choose each other over the available men, who are all presented as inadequate or dangerous. 17. A brief analytical digression distinguishes how Spanish society has historically treated male homosexuality (assumed but not accepted) versus female homosexuality (accepted but not assumed — framed as close friendship), with the host arguing this distinction persists today. 18. The tone throughout is enthusiastic, conversational, and willing to engage seriously with the film's political dimensions despite its exploitation-adjacent context. 19. This episode suits listeners interested in Spanish transition-era cinema, feminist film analysis, or exploitation films with genuine political depth, and who are comfortable with Spanish. 20. Listeners who approach the episode expecting pure genre criticism or who are sensitive to frank discussion of sexual violence as a film trope will find some segments uncomfortable.

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