Abstract

Álex de la Iglesia is a filmmaker whose recognition has grown exponentially from the 1990s to the present. His style is ambiguous, placing himself in a hybrid position, between genre cinema and the Spanish tradition of the esperpento. This has given rise to many debates and reflections on the position it occupies in the national cinematographic panorama. This paper focuses on the analysis of the scenes of heights in his films, one of the characteristics present throughout his filmography, from El día de la bestia to Veneciafrenia. Thus, a journey through the films in which they appear is established, analyzing the type of meaning and sense they have, and accounting for the diversity of meanings and structures. The analysis will focus on the films that show this resource in the final part (in the climax), emphasizing its metaphorical character, which connects with a philosophical reading of heights as a filmic space. This connotation is rooted in the origins of western culture, in the thought of Plato, Aristotle and the Judeo-Christian tradition which, being very present in thought, also survives in literary and cinematographic narrative.

Keywords: Álex de la Iglesia | Film | Aesthetics | Film analysis | Cinema