Non-inscription and Dictatorship in Non-canonical Adaptations—A Bee in the Rain (1972) and The Dauphin (2001) by Fernandon Lopes

摘要

Fernando Lopes (b. 1935) is a prestigious Portuguese film and television director and producer, who has influenced profoundly the evolution of both media since the 1960s. Two of his features are literary adaptations of canonical twentieth-century Portuguese novels that deal in unprecedented ways with Portugal's dictatorial regime, which lasted from 1933 until 1974. Lopes adapted Uma abelha na chuva/A Bee in the Rain, written by Carlos de Oliveira in 1953, still under authoritarian rule in 1972 and O delfim/The Dauphin, written by José Cardoso Pires in 1969, more than two decades after the instauration of democracy in 2001. What makes Lopes’ choice of the two novels for literary adaptation so remarkable is the fact that they are separated by three decades and were adapted in historical moments marked by opposite political regimes. This poses a set of questions with regard to Fernando Lopes’ adaptation process of the two canonical texts. The main questions are related to the significance of his resistance against the hegemonic identity for the adaptation strategies and aesthetic decisions in both films. By answering these questions this article hopes to contribute to the study of literary adaptations based on canonical texts and their participation in the construction of national identity in a country that has to deal with the legacy of forty eight years of authoritarianism.