History Film / TheLastCircus

* LawfulPushover: The circus director (and the whole) is this with Sergio. They have no choice but to let him do as he pleases and bail him out of prison because he's the main star of the circus and they can't do without him. [[spoiler: Which is proven correct after Javier disfigures him]].

* MuggingTheMonster: In the theater scene, a guy is bothered by Javier standing in front of the screen. Against his date's suggestion, the guy angrily reaches out to Javier to ask him to sit down and touches his shoulder. Javier responds [[{{Fingore}} by bending the guy's fingers backwards]], causing panic to break out in the theater.

* MsFanservice: Natalia. There's plenty close-up shots on her bosom and especially her back during the nightclub performance.

%% * {{Fanservice}}: Natalia.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Sergio tells Javier that he really loves Natalia, admitting that sometimes he drinks too much and loses control, but insists that he's not a bad person and he's ready to do everything for her, claiming that it's "love for real". His heartbreak and crying when Natalia abandons him after the disastrous birthday party gig does prove that his feelings for her are genuine, even if he's still an abusive monster.

* PuttingLaughterInSlaughter: [[spoiler: Javier, when he [[LaughingMad laughs madly]] right after killing Salcedo]].

* ThisCannotBe: Sergio collapses yelling "¡NO PUEDE SER!" during his first VillainousBreakdown at a pub where his face (not shown onscreen yet) got people staring at him in quiet horror.

** [[spoiler:Javier to colonel Salcedo, and he keeps shooting until he's out of bullets.]]

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:Javier]] shoots a politician at Salcedo's home off his feet and is hurled across the room and slams against a bookshelf.

* CrapsackWorld: The depiction of the early '70s Franco-led Spain is that of a sour, desaturated, detached society in which violent men like Sergio and colonel Salcedo have their way and thugs fight in the streets at night. The opening scene set during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar and Javier's father being forced to do slave labor for the construction of Franco's monument afterwards are depicted as pretty dystopian.

* BlackComedy: Even compared to Álex de la Iglesia's past Black Comedy movies like ''Film/TheDayOfTheBeast'' or ''Film/LaComunidad'' ''The Last Circus'' is probably his bleakest affair, with its ideas of humor being a clown in drag committing MacheteMayhem on a battlefield, a man telling a GallowsHumor joke about a dead baby to his friends during dinner and the protagonist making an improvised clown costume out of a bishop's suit just to give some examples.

* BlackComedy: Even compared to Álex de la Iglesia's past Black Comedy movies like ''Film/TheDayOfTheBeast'' or ''Film/LaComunidad'' ''The Last Circus'' is a very dark comedy, his bleakest affair with its ideas of humor being a clown in drag committing a MacheteMayhem on a battlefield, a man telling a GallowsJoke about a dead baby to his friends during dinner and the protagonist making an improvised clown costume out of a bishop's suit just to give some examples.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Javier. He's very meek and quiet despite his traumatic upbringing, at least until the disastrous LoveTriange gives him the final push he needed to give in to the gestating madness.

* BlackComedy: If it were any darker, it'd suck the light out of the room when you played it on your TV.

** Javier's father re-appears later as a hallucination, ordering him to get Natalia and kill Sergio, saying once again that revenge is the only way to happiness. [[spoiler: And once again, following this advice backfires HORRIBLY.]]

** Salcedo's friend who gets his hand bitten by Javier despite shielding him from Salcedo's abuse would be unfortunate... [[spoiler:if it wasn't for the fact it's [[UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco Generalissimo Franco]] himself]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Javier. He's very meek and quiet despite his traumatic upbringing, at least until his disastrous

* CrapsackWorld: The depiction of the early '70s Franco-led Spain is that of a sour, desaturated, detached society in which violent men like Sergio and colonel Salcedo have their way and thugs fight in the streets at night. The opening scene set during the SpanishCivilWar and Javier's father being forced to do slave labor for the construction of Franco's monument afterwards are depicted as pretty dystopian.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Franco]] tells Salcedo that he disapproves the way he forces Javier to act like a dog for him, calling it "Non-Christian" behavior.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Sergio's first true display of instability comes from the dinner scene in which he gets really upset when Javier doesn't laugh or react the way he wanted at a GallowsHumor joke he told, and beats Natalia in front of everyone when she sides with Javier. Sergio then makes an [[BreakThemByTalking angry rant]] to Javier and the other circus workers telling them that he's THE clown of the circus, the real breadwinner since people come to see him and thus he decides what's funny or not. He's not completely wrong][spoiler: since the circus closes after he gets disfigured]], but his behavior still makes him an ass.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: A variation. Javier's despair and frustration he feels for Natalia staying with Sergio in spite of all the DomesticAbuse drives him into AxCrazy TragicMonster [[MonsterClown Clown]], but he's not fully evil.

* MacheteMayhem: Javier's father during the opening battle. He switches up his shotgun with a machete, but proves to be really good at it when he mows down several Francoist soldiers.

* NonIronicClown: Miguel, the colleague of Javier's father, stands up to the Republican commando leader who broke into the circus to recruit men into his army, calling him out for interrupting the show and doing this in front of children.

** To an extent the Republican colonel Enrique Lister, who punches [Miguel after being told off and forcefully conscripts Javier's father and the circusmen to fight a Francoist army only to lose miserably.
%% ** [[spoiler:Sergio.]] He lives, but [[spoiler:at a price\.]]
%% ** [[EvilOldFolks Colonel Salcedo and his servant Anselmo]], [[spoiler:who get what they deserve for what they did to Javier]].

%% * AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Javier]] becomes this halfway through.

%% * BewareTheNiceOnes: Javier.

%% * BlackComedy: If it were any darker, it'd suck the light out of the room when you played it on your TV.

%% * BlownAcrossTheRoom: A politician at Salcedo's villa, by the hands of [[spoiler: an unhinged Javier]]. The man has only time to mutter "[[ProfaneLastWords ¿Pero qué coño es esto?]]" at the approaching bishop-looking MonsterClown before getting shot off his feet and slamming against a bookshelf.

%% * ClimbingClimax / MonumentalBattle: Up on the giant cross of the Valle de los Caídos monument.

* TheComicallySerious: Ramiro praises Javier's first (offscreen) performance, going as far as to say that his passiveness to the gags Sergio subjected him to (which included PianoDrop, PieInTheFace and RumpRoast) reminded him of Creator/BusterKeaton's.

%% * CrapsackWorld: This being Franco-led Spain, it's a given.
%% * CreateYourOwnVillain: A rather [[BlackAndGreyMorality muddy]] case with Javier earning the hatred of colonel Salcedo and Sergio after causing their disfigurements. However Salcedo and Sergio aren't innocent and to a large extent [[LaserGuidedKarma did this to themselves]] with the former killing Javier's dad and the latter being an abusive BadBoss who hospitalizes Javier after beating him to near death.

%% * DeadpanSnarker: Ramiro has moments of it.
%% * DeathGlare: Sergio provides plenty.

%% * DestructiveRomance: TheMovie.

%% * DomesticAbuse: Sergio is this to Natalia.

%% * EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Franco]] disapproves the way Javier gets treated by the colonel.

%% * FacialHorror: Both [[spoiler:Javier and Sergio]].

** Some nice full-frontal nudity courtesy of Javier.

%% * FromBadToWorse: Any positive development in the story is extremely short-lived, before it goes wrong and continues getting worse. Look at the trope directly beneath this if you need ''one'' example...

* HarmfulHealing: The emergency surgery performed by a vet [[spoiler:to save Sergio after his face was brutally bashed by Javier, the rescue is successful... Sergio's facial reconstruction is most definitely not.

* LaughingMad: [[spoiler: Javier, after killing Salcedo]].

%% * LoveMakesYouEvil: Or crazy, at least.

%% * MacheteMayhem: Javier's father during the opening battle.

%% * MaleFrontalNudity: See FanDisservice.

%% * TheNeidermeyer: Both Nationalist and Republican characters are portrayed as this.

%% * PetTheDog:

%% ** [[spoiler: Franco]] has a sympathetic moment with a captive Javier, but he ends up getting [[TheDogBitesBack bitten]].

%% * SadClown: Javier's whole shtick.
%% * ScaryStitches: Post-MeatgrinderSurgery [[spoiler:Sergio]].

%% * ShipperOnDeck: Ramiro is a downplayed example, as he's the first who notices Javier's crush on Natalia and warns him, but later says yes in Javier's place when Natalia asks him out on a date. [[spoiler: Towards the end Ramiro is assisting Javier for his CaptiveDate with Natalia, although he's probably being held hostage too]].
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: No one accomplishes anything in the end. The film ends with both clowns arrested, and Natalia and the Ghost Rider's final stunts end in their own demises.]]

%% * SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: In the middle, maaaaaybe inching a little towards horror.

%% * UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: The abusive Sergio can qualify.

%% * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Javier, after he snaps.]]

Of all of Álex de la Iglesia's films (which include such twisted and weird fare as ''Accion Mutante'' and ''Film/TheDayOfTheBeast''), this is probably the darkest and most gritty. And that's saying something.

* AdviceBackfire: Javier's father laments he can only ever hope to be a sad clown, since he's had his childhood robbed thanks to the civil war. However, he advises Javier that he can gain solace from his pain and be a funny clown if he can get '''revenge'''. The backfire comes when Javier decides to get said revenge by ''sabotaging'' a prison work camp where his father was forced to build the [[{{Foreshadowing}} Valle de los Caídos monument]] with dynamite. [[SarcasmMode Hilarity ensues.]]
** Javier's father re-appears later as a hallucination, ordering him to get Natalia and kill Sergio, saying once again that [[RevengeBeforeReason revenge is the only way to happiness]]. [[spoiler: And once again, following this advice backfires HORRIBLY.]]

* TheAlcoholic: Sergio gets worse whenever he drinks... and Natalia tells Javier that he drinks every night.

** To an extent the Republican colonel Enrique Lister, who punches [[OnlySaneMan Miguel]] after being told off and forcefully conscripts Javier's father and the circusmen to fight a Francoist army only to lose miserably.
** [[spoiler:Sergio.]] He [[CruelMercy lives]], but [[spoiler:[[FateWorseThanDeath at a price]].]]
** [[EvilOldFolks Colonel Salcedo and his servant Anselmo]], [[spoiler:who get what they deserve for what they did to Javier]].

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Javier]] becomes this halfway through.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Javier.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: By the end of the film, both of the main characters are pretty deranged. Also applies to the overarching theme of the film as it relates to the Spanish Civil War; as one reviewer [[http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Last-Circus-Blu-ray/27571/#Review pointed out]], "Republicans? Nationalists? What's the difference? They're both clowns."
* BlackComedy: If it were any darker, it'd suck the light out of the room when you played it on your TV.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Javier's father after [[CruelAndUnusualDeath getting stomped to death by Salcedo's horse]].
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: A politician at Salcedo's villa, by the hands of [[spoiler: an unhinged Javier]]. The man has only time to mutter "[[ProfaneLastWords ¿Pero qué coño es esto?]]" at the approaching bishop-looking MonsterClown before getting shot off his feet and slamming against a bookshelf.

** [[spoiler:Javier to colonel Salcedo, and he [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill keeps shooting]] until he's out of bullets.]]

* ButtMonkey: Javier's role as the Sad Clown falls under this, but it could easily apply to his entire life.

* ClimbingClimax / MonumentalBattle: Up on the giant cross of the Valle de los Caídos monument.

* TheComicallySerious: Ramiro praises Javier's first ([[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome offscreen]]) performance, going as far as to say that his passiveness to the gags Sergio subjected him to (which included PianoDrop, PieInTheFace and RumpRoast) reminded him of Creator/BusterKeaton's.

* CrapsackWorld: This being Franco-led Spain, it's a given.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: A rather [[BlackAndGreyMorality muddy]] case with Javier earning the hatred of colonel Salcedo and Sergio after causing their disfigurements. However Salcedo and Sergio aren't innocent and to a large extent [[LaserGuidedKarma did this to themselves]] with the former killing Javier's dad and the latter being an abusive BadBoss who hospitalizes Javier after beating him to near death.

* DeadpanSnarker: Ramiro has moments of it.
* DeathGlare: Sergio provides plenty.

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Both Javier and Sergio]] go through it, badly. [[spoiler:Sergio]] in particular is a very interesting example: [[spoiler:the disfigurement of his face destroys his ability to make children laugh, which was the only thing he was good at and his one redeeming quality. This makes him bounce from the DespairEventHorizon... through the MoralEventHorizon.]]
* DestructiveRomance: TheMovie.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Sergio to Javier.
* DomesticAbuse: Sergio is this to Natalia.

* DownerEnding

* DudeLooksLikeALady: A recurring InformedAttribute with Javier whenever he's dressed as a clown: the circus' elephant strikes him down mistaking him for a woman, when he gets his improvised [[spoiler:MonsterClown costume after he snaps]] Anselmo asks if he dressed himself as a priest or a lady, later one of the children at the diner questions their dad why Javier is dressed as a lady before being corrected that he's a clown.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Sergio is introduced [[KickTheDog kicking two poor dwarfs]] out of his trailer and ranting that he doesn't want dwarfs in his circus because they make him sick. When the director tells him that it's not his circus and he can't talk to him like that, Sergio [[ArmorPiercingResponse shuts him up]] by taunting "Fire me, then".
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Franco]] disapproves the way Javier gets treated by the colonel.

* FacialHorror: Both [[spoiler:Javier and Sergio]].
* FanDisservice: Some nice full-frontal nudity courtesy of Javier.

* {{Fanservice}}: Natalia.

* FilchingFoodForFun: While happily running through an Main/AmusementPark with Natalia, Javier steals some poor kid's cotton candy, right before a furious Sergio catches up to give both a DisproportionateRetribution.
* FishEyes: Circus artist Andrés has them.

* FromBadToWorse: Any positive development in the story is extremely short-lived, before it goes wrong and continues getting worse. Look at the trope directly beneath this if you need ''one'' example...
* FullBoarAction: Javier gets chased out of his hideout in the wild by a vicious boar until it's shot down by a hunter... [[spoiler: [[FromBadToWorse who reveals to be Salcedo's servant]]]].

* GirlsWithMoustaches: A bearded lady is mistaken for a man and accidentally recruited into the small Republican army along with Javier's father. The army leader scolds the soldier who did it and has her [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse escorted away]].

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Although both get pretty damn mutilated...

* HairTriggerTemper: At best, Sergio shows off an impatient attitude, as he snaps at Javier during the job interview because he doesn't give an immediate response to a question he asked. At worst, all it takes for Sergio to consider his dinner ruined (and, shorty after, [[DomesticAbuse beat up Natalia]]) is someone not laughing at his joke.
* HarmfulHealing: The emergency surgery performed by a vet [[spoiler:to save Sergio after his face was brutally bashed by Javier, the rescue is successful... Sergio's facial reconstruction [[FacialHorror is most definitely NOT]]]].

* HumiliationConga: [[spoiler: After getting disfigured by Javier, Sergio's career as a clown is completely shattered, and everyone is repulsed by his appearance. Even when he briefly reunites with Natalia everything falls apart again as soon as children get a good look at his face. Natalia gets fed up with him and dumps Sergio leaving him in tears]]. Though, unlike most Humiliation Congas, this does nothing but crank his [[MonsterClown dark side]] up to eleven.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Averted. The only times both Javier and Sergio score a kill is when their target is right in front of them, for the rest it's all ATeamFiring during the climax. Justified, as neither of them are seasoned gun users and their madness-induced rage doesn't help them aim better.

* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: What Sergio and Natalia's relationship revolves around. Natalia claims she's afraid of Sergio... but every time she gets beaten by him, she gets really, REALLY horny.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Sergio's first true display of instability comes from the dinner scene in which he gets really upset when Javier doesn't laugh or react the way he wanted at a GallowsHumor joke he told, and beats Natalia in front of everyone when she sides with Javier. Sergio then makes an [[BreakThemByTalking angry rant]] to Javier and the other circus workers telling them that he's THE clown of the circus, the real breadwinner since people come to see him and thus he decides what's funny or not. The worst part is that [[JerkassHasAPoint he's not completely wrong]] [[spoiler: since the circus closes after he gets disfigured,]] but his behavior still makes him an ass.

* LaserGuidedKarma: An elder colonel Salcedo kidnaps Javier and humiliates him [[RevengeMyopia for what he did to his eye]], then plans to kill him for biting [[spoiler:Francisco Franco]]'s hand. [[spoiler:Too bad it backfires when Javier breaks out on a killing spree after becoming a MonsterClown and finishes what he started with Salcedo's eye]].
* LaughingMad: [[spoiler: Javier, [[PuttingLaughterInSlaughter after killing Salcedo]]]].
* LawfulPushover: The circus director (and the whole troupe, honestly) is this with Sergio. They have no choice but to let him do as he pleases and bail him out of prison because he's the main star of the circus and they can't do without him. [[spoiler: Which is proven correct after Javier disfigures him]].

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Or crazy, at least.

* MacheteMayhem: Javier's father during the opening battle.

* MaleFrontalNudity: See FanDisservice.

* MoodWhiplash: The film is all over the place.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: A VERY nasty wake-up call for Natalia, when she sees the insane physical and emotional damage she caused by inciting Javier and Sergio to go at each other.
* TheNeidermeyer: Both Nationalist and Republican characters are portrayed as this.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Sergio is prone to subject people to these if they get on his nerves. After doing it with Javier, however, [[TheDogBitesBack he gets one from him]] ending up [[spoiler: disfigured]] and weakened.
* NonIronicClown: Miguel, the colleague of Javier's father, stands up to the Republican commando leader who broke into the circus to recruit men into his army, calling him out for interrupting the show and [[NotInFrontOfTheKid doing this in front of children]].

* NothingIsScarier: Natalia tells Javier that he DOESN'T want to know what happened to the previous Sad Clown before him...

* PetTheDog: Sergio seems to [[FriendToAllChildren genuinely like kids]], even if he disregards their safety.
** [[spoiler: Franco]] has a sympathetic moment with a captive Javier, but he ends up getting [[TheDogBitesBack bitten]].

* SadClown: Javier's whole shtick.
* ScaryStitches: Post-MeatgrinderSurgery [[spoiler:Sergio]].

* ShipperOnDeck: Ramiro is a downplayed example, as he's the first who notices Javier's crush on Natalia and warns him, but later says yes in Javier's place when Natalia asks him out on a date. [[spoiler: Towards the end Ramiro is assisting Javier for his CaptiveDate with Natalia, although he's probably being held hostage too]].

** The movie is similar in plot and theme to ''{{Theatre/Pagliacci}}''. [[DarkerAndEdgier A very twisted and horrifying]] version of ''Pagliacci''. However, the roles of protagonist and antagonist are reversed: it is the lover who is the protagonist and the cuckolded spouse who is the antagonist.

* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: In the middle, maaaaaybe inching a little towards horror.

* TestYourStrengthGame: Despite being blinded by UnstoppableRage, Sergio gets creative with Javier's beatdown at the amusement park by placing him on the puck of a high striker game and beating him with the mallet several times until the cops stop him. [[AdmiringTheAbomination To his credit]], he does reach the bell.
* ThisCannotBe: Sergio collapses yelling "¡NO PUEDE SER!" during his first VillainousBreakdown at a pub where his [[FacialHorror face]] ([[NothingIsScarier not shown onscreen yet]]) got people staring at him in quiet horror.

* TimeShiftedActor: Two other actors are used to portray Javier as a child and as a teenager.

* TitledAfterTheSong: The original title "Balada Triste de Trompeta", Raphael's take on Nini Rosso's [[https://youtu.be/CPU-wrgjqUU "Ballata Della Tromba"]].

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: The abusive Sergio can qualify.

* WalkingArmory: In addition of MonsterClown, [[spoiler:Javier]] also becomes this by [[LockAndLoadMontage raiding]] Salcedo's weaponry.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Javier, after he snaps.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: Javier roughly pushes a child away at a diner to get to the jukebox and later points his gun at another. Nothing happens, though.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Apparently no one in the diner bat an eye when a WalkingWeaponry MonsterClown walked in and sat down, but perhaps they assumed [[spoiler: Javier]] was just a street artist or some kind of protester with a pretentious getup before revealing he's a maniac with real, loaded guns.

* DramaticSpineInjury: At the climax, Natalia uses her aerialist skills to leap from a tower with a length of silk wrapped around her waist, screaming dramatically as she finally escapes her abusive husband Sergio... until the silk jerks her fall short, snapping her spine fully in half and killing her instantly. Both Sergio and her would-be lover Javier are devastated.