Cross-Dressing and Lesbian Representation in Belle Epoque by Fernando Trueba.

The Oscar-winning film Belle Epoque (1992), directed by Fernando Trueba, systematically deconstructs patriarchal forms of masculinities by mocking the "Iberian macho" stereotype, by representing actively desiring women, and by allegedly making the male protagonist the object of the female gaze. The inversion of traditional gender roles throughout the film reaches its peak at the carnival cross-dressing sequence, when Violeta, dressed as a male soldier, aggressively seduces Fernando, dressed as a maid, and maintains total control over the lovemaking process. However, as I will demonstrate in this article, this seemingly subversive reversal of sexual identities is superficial and, in fact, reinstates the traditional vision of patriarchal dominance over the submissive female gender. While taking into consideration Teresa de Lauretis's concept of "sexual indifference," according to which the representation of sexuality in film and literature occurs only from the male perspective, I will explain how Trueba reproduces this perspective, which Paul Julian Smith calls "a traditional gendered division of roles and spectator positions" (182) of classical film, albeit with a unique nuance. As such, the viewer of Belle Epoque is guided toward identifying with the male gaze, even when, as in the scene I consider, the subject of desire is a lesbian. Belle Epoque is a comedy that takes place between the December 1930 attempted military uprising against the monarchy and the proclamation in April 1931 of the Second Republic. Fernando deserts from the army and ends up in a rural house inhabited by Manolo and his four beautiful daughters: Clara, Rocio, Violeta, and Luz. One by one the four women seduce Fernando, who in the end marries the youngest, Luz. Trueba portrays this period of time in a utopian mode, configured as "an oasis of freedom, pleasure and uninhibited sexual experimentation" (Jordan and Morgan-Tamosunas 59), in which the upcoming Republic appears as a paradisiacal space capable of erasing a complex and problematic historical moment. Likewise, Jose F. Colmeiro thinks that the utopian spirit of the film reveals a fundamentally conservative ideology because, rather than confronting the ideological conflicts of the past, it is reduced "to an escapist wish fulfilment devoid of a truly subversive value" (131).