Line #67 Film/TheLastCircus


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Last_circus_9906.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:It's showtime.]]
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6	->'''Sergio''': "Why are you a clown?"\
7	'''Javier''': "What about you?"\
8	'''Sergio''': "Because if I weren't a clown, I'd be a murderer."\
9	'''Javier''': "Me too."
10
11	Original Spanish title: ''Balada triste de trompeta'' (''Sad Trumpet Ballad'')
12
13	A 2010 BlackComedy directed by Álex de la Iglesia. In 1937, a clown is forcibly recruited by the militia to serve in the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar where he manages to massacre an entire platoon with a machete. Years later in [[TheSeventies 1973]] against the backdrop of [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime Franco]]-era Spain, his son Javier follows in his father's footsteps, working as a SadClown. There he falls in love with the beautiful acrobat Natalia and in the process runs amok of her abusive lover, Sergio, the Funny Clown. A twisted LoveTriangle ensues between the two clowns that escalates into insanity.
14
15	----
16	!!This film contains examples of:
17
18	[[folder:Tropes A-L]]
19	* ActionPrologue: A Republican army [[RagtagBunchofMisfits with forcefully recruited circus artists]] vs a Nationalist army.
20	* AdviceBackfire:
21	** 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.
22	** 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 as it further escalates the tensions until it all crumbles in the massive DownerEnding.]]
23	* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Javier and Sergio at the end are sent to weep for Natalia's death and the emotional and physical turmoil they gone through as they are arrested.]]
24	* TheAlcoholic: Sergio gets worse whenever he drinks. Natalia tells Javier that he drinks every night.
25	* AnArmAndALeg: During the opening battle, Javier's father briefly sees some poor guy who lost his sight, both legs and an arm.
26	* AllAreEqualInDeath: At Valle de los Caídos, Javier explains to Natalia that the caves are filled with the bodies of fallen fascists and communists, commenting that they all ended up in the same place because death "unites a lot".
27	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Taken to the extreme. Natalia claims constantly that she's with Sergio because she's afraid of what he'd do if she left him... but she seems to show genuine sexual excitement from the abuse.
28	* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: The caustic soda [[spoiler: Javier]] dips his hands and face into would've just given him severe bloody burns, instead of bleaching his skin.
29	* AssholeVictim:
30	** 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 get killed and lose the battle miserably.
31	** [[spoiler:Sergio, who loses his job after getting brutally disfigured by Javier, but had it 100% coming due to being a physically abusive BadBoss who pushed him over the edge.]]
32	** [[EvilOldFolks Colonel Salcedo and his servant Anselmo]], [[spoiler:who are killed by an AxCrazy Javier for the kidnapping and humiliation they subjected him to]].
33	** [[spoiler: [[UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco Generalissimo Franco]], who gets his hand bitten by Javier despite trying to console him as he gets abused by Salcedo. The moment of kindness doesn't change the fact he's still a dictator whose regime caused the deaths of millions and is indirectly responsible for many of Javier's troubles]].
34	* BackAlleyDoctor: The vet [[spoiler:who patches Sergio's face back together to avert his DeathByDisfigurement]].
35	* BadHumorTruck: Javier drives around in an ice cream truck [[spoiler:after becoming a MonsterClown]].
36	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Javier. He's very meek and quiet despite his traumatic upbringing, at least until the disastrous LoveTriangle gives him the final push he needed to give in to the gestating madness.
37	* BirthdayPartyGoesWrong: Sergio and Natalia entertain some kids at a birthday party. [[spoiler:Everything falls apart when a kid pulls Sergio's fake beard revealing his horribly mutilated face]].
38	* 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.
39	* 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.
40	* BloodFromTheMouth: Javier's father after getting stomped to death by Salcedo's horse.
41	* BlownAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:Javier]] shoots a politician at Salcedo's home off his feet, hurling him across the room until he slams against a bookshelf.
42	* BookEnds: The movie opens and ends on two men dressed as clowns.
43	* BoomHeadshot:
44	** [[spoiler:Javier to colonel Salcedo, and [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill he keeps shooting until he's out of bullets]].]]
45	** [[spoiler:Sergio to Ramiro when he reaches Javier and Natalia's hideout, commencing the movie's climax.]]
46	* BreakingTheFourthWall: In-universe, when Javier goes at the theater and has a vision of Raphael addressing to him from the big screen.
47	* ButtMonkey:
48	** Javier's role as the Sad Clown falls under this, but it could easily apply to his entire life.
49	** PlayedStraight with The Ghost Rider, who gets mocked and poorly treated by the others, but whose misery is comedic rather than serious.
50	* CaptiveDate: [[spoiler:Javier takes Natalia on one after he snaps.]]
51	* CatapultNightmare: Javier does this after waking up from his nightmare at the hospital.
52	* ChekhovsGag: The Ghost Rider's flying motorcycle stunt. Initially just his RunningGag, [[spoiler: but then it ends in tragedy when he tries to be a hero with it.]]
53	* ChekhovsSkill: Ramiro shows Javier that he's capable of freeing himself from handcuffs [[HairpinLockpick using a hairpin]]. Two thirds into the movie, he uses this talent to free Javier when he and the crew help him evade the police.
54	* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Natalia nervously smokes at the hospital, visibly shaken by the beatdown she and Javier received from Sergio at the park.
55	* CircusBrat: Javier, as well as his father, his grandad and possibly more.
56	* CircusOfFear: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. The circus workers in the opening scene and the troupe Javier joins are depicted as honest people trying to get by. It's either the Civil War or someone like Sergio that corrupt the circus with their mere presence and turn [[spoiler: Javier]] (and his dad before him) into {{Monster Clown}}s.
57	* ClimbingClimax / MonumentalBattle: In the ending Javier, Natalia and Sergio have their final confrontation up on the giant cross of the Valle de los Caídos monument.
58	* CockFight: Javier and Sergio end up viciously wanting each other dead over Natalia.
59	* TheComicallySerious: Ramiro praises Javier's first performance (which we aren't shown, making it an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome), 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.
60	* ContrivedCoincidence:
61	** Javier, out of anyone else he could've stumbled upon in the forest, [[spoiler: re-encounters an elder colonel Salcedo on a hunting trip, who decides to kidnap him after finding out it's the boy that took away his eye]].
62	** On top of the CoincidentalBroadcast about Javier being sighted near the site of the terrorist attack on Blanco, in the very same pub Sergio notices the Ghost Rider having a drink. When he exits, Sergio stalks and roughly interrogates him to obtain more information on Javier's whereabouts.
63	* 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 WarIsHell scene set in 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.
64	* CreateYourOwnVillain: Javier gains two antagonists in his life in the form of colonel Salcedo and Sergio, for 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.
65	* CreepyCircusMusic: Despite what the film is about, this trope is surprisingly [[AvertedTrope averted]], as every circus setpiece has a basic orchestral score, and neither MonsterClown is followed by some predictable scary calliope {{Leitmotif}}. Justified, as [[spoiler: Javier]] is more of a TragicMonster and Sergio doesn't need spooky music when being a controlling, murderous CrazyJealousGuy is perfectly terrifying as it is.
66	* {{Crossdressing}}: Javier's father is forced on the battlefield in drag, which he wore as part of his clown act.
67	* CruelElephant: The circus' elephant Princesa is implied to be this, as she hits Javier to the ground and Ramiro explains that she gets aggressive when she sees him with another woman, mistaking Javier for one. Later Ramiro reveals him that the jealous elephant went as far as killing his wife.
68	* CryLaughing: [[spoiler: Sergio does this after Natalia's death, while Javier bawls desperately, thus they [[LiteralMetaphor nail]] their roles as the Funny Clown and Sad Clown respectively]].
69	* DeadpanSnarker: Ramiro has moments of it, like when Javier explains that he's the SadClown and as such he doesn't make people laugh. Ramiro understands and gives him compliments for doing a ''stupendous'' job at it if that's the case.
70	* DeathGlare: Sergio provides plenty. When looking at Javier after almost hurting an infant, or when he watches Natalia at the night club, head covered in darkness for extra creepiness.
71	* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Colonel Salcedo.]] He tries to put up a fight and has a FacingTheBulletsOneLiner to boot.
72	--> "Son of a bitch! You have no balls! Shoot me, you [[ProfaneLastWords son of a bitch]]!"
73	* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Both Javier and Sergio]] go through it, badly. [[spoiler:Sergio]] in particular, as [[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.]]
74	* DestructiveRomance: TheMovie. Natalia willingly endures the DomesticAbuse she recieves from Sergio believing she can't do without him and loves the thrill of toying with Javier's heart, who instead is genuinely in love with her and is infuriated at her abusive relationship with Sergio, which drives him insane.
75	%% * {{Deuteragonist}}: Sergio to Javier.
76	* DomesticAbuse: Sergio is prone to brutally beat Natalia over petty things, such as agreeing with Javier that his GallowsHumor joke wasn't that funny.
77	* DontYouDarePityMe: Javier would rather have Natalia hate him than feel sorry for him.
78	* DownerBeginning: Javier's clown dad and his circus colleagues are forced into a brutal Spanish Civil War battle which they lose, the survivors get ShotAtDawn, Javier's dad is imprisoned and forced to do labor camp work for Franco, and dies when Javier attempts to break him out.
79	%% * DownerEnding
80	* DramaticSpineInjury: [[spoiler: 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.]]
81	* 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.
82	* EgomaniacHunter: Elder Salcedo is definitely this in his spare time, judging from the lavish collection of guns and taxidermy in his manor, and the way he plans to take down a human (Javier) next.
83	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Sergio is introduced 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 shuts him up by taunting "Fire me, then".
84	* 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 anything 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.
85	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Dictator [[spoiler:Francisco Franco]] tells Salcedo that he disapproves the way he forces Javier to act like a dog for him, calling it "Non-Christian" behavior.
86	* ExposedToTheElements: Javier survives naked in a forest even after it snows, with no ill effects.
87	* EyesAreUnbreakable: Washing his face with bubbling caustic soda miraculously doesn't blind [[spoiler: Javier]] on the spot.
88	* EyeScream: The evil colonel Salcedo is pushed off his horse by Javier when he kills the boy's father, painfully losing his right eye after falling onto a pickaxe.
89	* FacialHorror: Both [[spoiler:Javier and Sergio and up with hideously scarred faces that complete their MonsterClown transformation]].
90	* FanDisservice:
91	** Some nice MaleFrontalNudity courtesy of Javier while he lives in the wild.
92	** In-universe, the male audience members at Natalia's night club performance become quite displeased at the Ghost Rider coming on stage as a barely dressed cherub.
93	* FatAndSkinny: Javier and Sergio are also this as clowns.
94	* FearlessInfant: Invoked with a young kid who steps out of a diner's bathroom right after [[spoiler: Javier]] has scared everyone out by shooting up maniacally. He then notices the child and points a weapon at him, but the child barely reacts. [[spoiler:Javier]] is numbed by the fact that he failed to scare him, that he stands motionless allowing the kid's father to rush back into the diner and carry him away.
95	* FemmeFatale: Natalia. There is a slight hint of self-indulgence in the way she sets Javier and Sergio against each other. [[spoiler:It does NOT end well for her, though.]]
96	* FilchingFoodForFun: While happily running through an AmusementPark with Natalia, Javier steals some poor kid's cotton candy, right before a furious Sergio catches up to give both a DisproportionateRetribution.
97	%% * FishEyes: Circus artist Andrés has them.
98	* FluffyTamer: Invoked during the prologue with a circus lion coming out of the shadows and laying down next to a young Javier after he's left all alone in the ring.
99	* FromBadToWorse: A constant throughout the film. For one example, Javier gets a job at a circus and is a pretty good at being a SadClown until he gets involved into an unhinged LoveTriangle which then leads to the circus getting closed after [[spoiler: Javier disfigures the main star Sergio]], but the troupe still finds a new job at a night club... which goes south when a vindictive Sergio shows up, while Javier is on the run and endures his own progressively awful experiences until he reaches out to Natalia.
100	* FullBoarAction: Javier gets chased out of his hideout in the wild by a vicious boar until it's shot down by a hunter... [[spoiler: who is revealed to be Salcedo's servant]].
101	* GallowsHumor: At the diner scene, Sergio tells a rather bleak joke about a nurse showing a man his newborn, then suddenly bashing it against a wall and telling him that everything's fine because it was born dead.
102	* GenreBusting: War film, period drama, horror comedy, trippy psychological thriller with some action scenes...
103	* 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 escorted away.
104	* GlasgowGrin: [[spoiler: Sergio gets half of one after the beating he gets from Javier.]]
105	* GoodAngelBadAngel: Invoked with the fourth wall-breaking imaginary Raphael and Javier's father in the theater scene. Raphael tells Javier that Natalia is a shameless person that he shouldn't care about and suggests to turn himself in, while Javier's father insists on taking her and killing Sergio.
106	%% * GoodScarsEvilScars: Although both get pretty damn mutilated...
107	* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:Both Salcedo and Anselmo: we see some blood splattering the wall when Javier bashes the latter to death with a clothes iron, while we close-up on Javier's face as he shoots Salcedo]].
108	* GrossUpCloseUp: During [[spoiler:Javier's]] self-mutilation.
109	* GutFeeling: While [[spoiler:Sergio]] is getting patched up by the vet, his wife rants at the circus troupe telling them that they're all going to Hell, especially Natalia, guessing that she's responsible for all this.
110	* 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, beat up Natalia) is someone not laughing at his joke.
111	* 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 ''[[FacialHorror not]]'']].
112	* HeroicBystander: When Javier stalks Natalia through Madrid a man attempts to help her, only to get a shotgun pointed at his face, [[spoiler: but all three get knocked down by the explosion that kills Luis Carrero Blanco]].
113	* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Sergio threatens to push the Ghost Rider off a bridge above RailroadTracksOfDoom in order to make him spill the beans.
114	* HistoricalDomainCharacter:
115	** Franco himself makes an appearance. [[spoiler: And gets bitten by Javier once he goes mad.]]
116	** The terrorist attack that killed Luis Carrero Blanco [[spoiler: is used as PlotDevice that allows Javier to get Natalia.]]
117	* HourglassPlot: As clowns, Sergio is the "Funny" one and Javier is the "Sad" one. When they [[spoiler: become [[MonsterClown Monster Clowns]]]], Javier constantly giggles and smiles in a deranged way, while Sergio doesn't, displaying instead an unsettling TranquilFury and designs his clown makeup after Emmett Kelly's "Weary Willie", which is a SadClown figure. [[spoiler: After Natalia dies]], Javier and Sergio seem to reprise their original roles, with Javier bawling his eyes out and Sergio laughing bitterly through the tears.
118	* 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]].
119	* ImprovisedWeapon: Javier [[spoiler:destroys Sergio's face]] by bashing him with a trumpet, and uses a clothes iron [[spoiler:to kill Anselmo]].
120	* 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.
121	* 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.
122	* ItsAlwaysSpring: Slightly downplayed since it does snow in one scene, but given that and the use of [[spoiler: Luis Carrero Blanco's killing]] which happened on the 20th of December, it's odd that most characters and many extras walk around without jackets or winter clothes.
123	* JumpedAtTheCall: Javier has a vision of Natalia as the Virgin Mary, telling him to become her Angel of Death. [[spoiler:Which means vengeful MonsterClown.]]
124	* KidsAreCruel: Sergio is taunted by a group of small children [[spoiler:after being disfigured]].
125	* LandmarkingTheHiddenBase: After the circus closes, they're somehow allowed to keep their animals near the crypts of Valle de los Caídos, [[spoiler: and Javier will take it over making it his secret hideout for a CaptiveDate with Natalia]].
126	* TheLastTitle: The English title.
127	* LaserGuidedKarma: An elder colonel Salcedo kidnaps Javier and humiliates him 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]].
128	* LawfulPushover: The circus director (and the whole circus troupe) 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]].
129	* LostInTranslation: Due to other countries changing the movie's title, the original TitleDrop with Raphael's song "Balada Triste de Trompeta" in the diner and the theater scene is lost.
130	* LoveMakesYouEvil: A variation. Javier's despair and frustration he feels for Natalia staying with Sergio in spite of all the DomesticAbuse turns him into an AxCrazy TragicMonster [[MonsterClown Clown]], but he's not fully evil.
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Tropes M-Y]]
134	* MacheteMayhem: Javier's father during the opening battle. He's ordered to switch up his shotgun with a machete, but proves to be really good at it when he mows down several Francoist soldiers.
135	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: The hospital doctor informs Natalia and the rest that Javier has sustained internal bleeding and several broken ribs, yet he runs and moves around looking completely unaffected by such injuries which in RealLife are notorious for being endangering and extremely painful.
136	* ManlyTears: Javier is prone to these, and Sergio ends up shedding some tears too during his [[VillainousBreakdown breakdowns]].
137	* MissingMom: Javier's. His father laments that he never got to meet her.
138	* MomentKiller: Sergio is this to Javier and Natalia twice. The first when he attacks them at the amusement park, the last one after they exchange a BigDamnKiss and he snarks in while holding Ramiro at gunpoint.
139	* MonsterClown:
140	** A heroic case with Javier's father during the opening battle scene, who is asked to keep his costume and makeup on in order to scare the Francoists when he'll charge at them armed with a machete.
141	** [[spoiler:Both protagonists to a degree, although in Javier's case it's more physical, since he's more broken than bad inside. Sergio is full-blown MonsterClown, though.]]
142	%% * MoodWhiplash: The film is all over the place.
143	* MoralityPet: Natalia serves as this for both clowns. Ironic, considering she's singlehandedly ended up manipulating both into becoming murderous on her behalf. Sergio also shows genuine affection for kids, pretty much his only redeeming quality.
144	* MsFanservice: Natalia. There's plenty close-up shots of her bosom and especially her back during the nightclub performance.
145	* MuggingTheMonster: A guy is bothered by Javier DisruptingTheTheater by 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.
146	* 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.
147	* TheNeidermeyer: Both Nationalist (the RabidCop who yells at Sergio towards the ending) and Republican characters (the unhinged [[LaResistance Resistance]] colonel Enrique Lister forcefully recruiting men into his army in the opening scene) are portrayed as this.
148	* NeverMyFault: Sergio scolding and threatening Javier for almost getting an infant hurt by throwing them over the elephant, despite the fact Javier was against doing it but Sergio insisted.
149	* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Sergio, lovable clown adored by kids on stage, an abusive lover towards Natalia and a BadBoss towards Javier off-stage.
150	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Had Javier not caused the labor camp escape, he would've had his father living longer and possibly being released, and without a pissed off Francoist colonel seeking revenge for his missing eye.
151	* NightmareSequence: Javier has a tormented one in which Sergio (in clown getup, no less) constantly spoils anything nice in the creepiest ways; first by popping out from under a bed where Natalia was laying, then by replacing the idyllic sight of Natalia in the sky with himself [[SlashedThroat slitting the throat]] of Javier's father.
152	* NoNameGiven: Javier's father and the circus director.
153	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Sergio is prone to subject people to these if they get on his nerves. After doing it with Javier, however, he gets one from him ending up [[spoiler: disfigured]] and weakened.
154	* 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]].
155	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Natalia makes this point when the circus director criticizes her relationship with Sergio, and she asks him if he ever felt trapped into a love that he knows will be his downfall but he just can't do without it, to which he responds "Yes, every day: this circus will end up killing me".
156	* NothingButSkulls: Javier's hideout at Valle de los Caídos has masses of skulls everywhere, given that Franco ordered 30,000 causalities of the Civil War to be put in a mass-grave there.
157	* NothingIsScarier: Natalia tells Javier that he DOESN'T want to know what happened to the previous Sad Clown before him.
158	* OcularGushers: In the opening scene, Javier's father wears a device to create that effect as part of the clown act. Later, after being captured, he uses it to spitefully squirt water in Salcedo's face.
159	* OutOfTheFryingPan: Javier being saved from a wild boar by colonel Salcedo's servant, who happened to be hunting nearby. Salcedo recognizes Javier as the boy who partially blinded him (due to Javier carrying a [[OrphansPlotTrinket portrait necklace of his father]]) and proceeds to kidnap him and force him to act like a retriever dog.
160	* PetTheDog:
161	** Sergio seems to [[FriendToAllChildren genuinely like kids]], even if he disregards their safety.
162	** [[spoiler: Franco]] disapproves Salcedo's mistreatment of Javier and attempts a sympathetic moment wit him, but ends up getting literally [[TheDogBitesBack bitten]].
163	* PietaPlagiarism: When Andrés carries the Ghost Rider's body to an ambulance in the end.
164	* PortrayedByDifferentSpecies: In-universe, when Ramiro gives Javier a tour and points out that the circus' zebra is actually a donkey with a painted coat.
165	* PutTheLaughterInSlaughter: [[spoiler: Javier, when he [[LaughingMad laughs madly]] right after killing Salcedo]].
166	* RabidCop: Towards the climax at Valle de los Caídos, an officer snaps at Sergio upon seeing him putting clown makeup on, giving him a heated TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against circus artists. In his rage the officer doesn't notice Sergio snatching his gun for himself.
167	* RecklessGunUsage: Despite ornamenting himself with guns and ammo, [[spoiler: MonsterClown Javier]] uses them to shoot things up and points loaded guns at people to scare them.
168	* RedRightHand: Salcedo wears glasses with a darkened lens to conceal the ugly scar of his missing eye.
169	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Natalia. Finally admitting her love for Javier is what leads to her demise.]]
170	* RuleOfSymbolism: The entire film is a metaphor for Franco-era Spain as well as the Spanish Civil War.
171	* SadClown: Javier's job at the circus, being the Pierrot-inspired Sad Clown who's partners with Sergio's Funny Clown. Personality-wise Javier masks his sad, traumatized true self by being quiet and subdued instead of trying to be a jokey StepfordSmiler of sorts.
172	* ScaryStitches: Post-MeatgrinderSurgery [[spoiler:Sergio]] has his face covered with these, some providing his GlasgowGrin.
173	* ScreamingWarrior: During the opening battle scene, Javier's dad lets out a furious shriek at the Francoist army before going [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] on their asses.
174	* SecondFaceSmoke: Sergio does this to the circus director during his introductory moment.
175	* SkywardScream: [[spoiler: Francisco Franco's]], when Javier bites his hand.
176	* TheStraightMan: Javier to Sergio's funny clown antics.
177	* ShipperOnDeck: Played with Ramiro. 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]].
178	* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: No one accomplishes anything in the tragic DownerEnding, with both clowns arrested, and Natalia and the Ghost Rider's final stunts end in their own demises.]]
179	* ShoutOut:
180	** The movie is similar in plot and theme to ''{{Theatre/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.
181	** Photos of the [[Franchise/UniversalHorror Universal Monsters]], [[{{Film/FlashGordonSerial}} Ming the Merciless]], ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'' and other images of pop culture are shown in the opening title sequence.
182	** One of the circus artists is a stunt performer with a motorbike, who wears an outfit with a [[ElementalMotifs fire motif]] and is referred to as the "[[ComicBook/GhostRider Motorista Fantasma]]".
183	** Natalia brings up the tale of Literature/{{Bluebeard}} comparing herself dating Javier despite the risk of enraging Sergio to the protagonist wanting to open Bluebeard's forbidden door against his orders.
184	** At one point during Javier's dream sequence he tries to reach Natalia as she floats in a sunny, paradisiacal sky, which is very reminiscent of Sam Lowry's recurring dreams about Jill in ''{{Film/Brazil}}''.
185	** Javier living in the forest without any clothing and eating a deer that died after falling in his hideout could be a nod to ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', in which the protagonist has a dream where he sees himself running in a forest naked and preying on a deer.
186	** The nightclub Natalia and the troupe go to work at is named ''Series/{{Kojak}}'', complete with a large Creator/TellySavalas decoration on its stage.
187	** The movie Javier sees at the theater with Raphael as the clown singing "Balada Triste de Trompeta" is 1970 ''Sin un adiós''.
188	** Javier and Natalia climbing on a large statue at the base of the giant cross while fleeing from Sergio and the police harkens back to the climax at Mount Rushmore from ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''.
189	** Two men who "created" one and other and want each other dead facing off at the top of a religious building with the woman they both desire is visually and thematically similar to the climax of ''Film/Batman1989'', [[spoiler: but with a tragic outcome]].
190	*** The aforementioned caustic soda that bleaches [[spoiler: Javier's]] skin instead of burning him could be a deliberate nod to the chemicals ComicBook/TheJoker usually falls into in order to gain his MonsterClown appearance.
191	** WordOfGod is that the ending, in which [[spoiler:Natalia falls from a great height and snaps her back]] was a reference to a [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied certain classic Spider-Man comic]].
192	* SickeningCrunch: [[spoiler: Of Natalia's spine]].
193	* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: More inching towards horror, as the film is mainly focused on the twisted tragedy of Javier's life and the uncomfortable laughs coming from sheer oddity of the twisted BlackComedy setpieces, instead of attempting scenes with uplifting humor.
194	* SymbolicMutilation: Salcedo missing an eye reflects his RevengeMyopia towards Javier, [[spoiler: while Javier purposefully scars his own face in a way to resemble a Sad Clown while Sergio's sutures give him a [[GlasgowGrin permanent twisted smile]] that match his Funny Clown persona]].
195	* 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.
196	* ThisCannotBe: Sergio collapses yelling "¡NO PUEDE SER!" during his first VillainousBreakdown at a pub when his face (which [[NothingIsScarier isn't shown to us yet]]) got people staring at him in quiet horror.
197	* ThisMeansWarpaint: Sergio decides to put clown makeup on before instigating the final confrontation.
198	* TimeSkip: Two, actually. The movie's intro opens in 1937, then it cuts ahead presumably to the late '40s and Javier is teenaged, then it jumps forward to 1973, when the rest of the film is set.
199	* TitledAfterTheSong: The original title "Balada Triste de Trompeta", Raphael's take on Nini Rosso's "Ballata Della Tromba".
200	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The main R-rated trailer shows [[spoiler:Sergio shooting Ramiro's brains out]].
201	* TraumaCongaLine: Javier goes on another date with Natalia, gets hospitalized by Sergio when he finds out, is pushed to the limit by Natalia [[EasilyForgiven constantly going back with Sergio]] resulting in him [[spoiler: disfiguring Sergio and running away from the police, being forced to live in a forest butt-naked feeding on dead animals until he gets attacked by a boar, which leads to him getting kidnapped and humiliated by the colonel who killed his father. Can you blame him for snapping into a murderous MonsterClown after all this?]]
202	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: The abusive Sergio can qualify. Even on stage it's implied that his whole Funny Clown thing is basically just subjecting the meek, ComicallySerious Sad Clown to a lot of gratuitous slapstick.
203	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Apparently no one in the diner bat an eye when a WalkingArmory 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.
204	* WalkingArmory: In addition of MonsterClown, [[spoiler:Javier]] also becomes this by raiding Salcedo's weaponry.
205	* WhatTheHellHero: Javier's reaction upon Natalia telling him that she's going back with Sergio, despite the fact that he just hospitalized him and beat her again. This sets up Javier's RageBreakingPoint [[spoiler: when he escapes from the hospital and returns to the circus only to find Natalia having anal sex with Sergio. Cue to disfigurement]].
206	* WidescreenShot: About two thirds into the film we're treated to a wide shot of Javier and Sergio facing off at the opposite far ends of the screen, with an indecisive Natalia in the middle and the slums of Madrid in the background.
207	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Javier, after he snaps.]] But given his traumatic childhood, the loss of his father and the abuse he recieves from Sergio and Salcedo, it's not hard to see why he goes off his rocker.
208	* WouldHurtAChild: Javier roughly pushes a child away at a diner to get to the jukebox and later points his gun at another.
209	* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:Javier and Sergio when they both fall off the deep end. Though Sergio was this to begin with before going full-blown MonsterClown.]]
210	* YouJustToldMe: Happens when Sergio interrogates the Ghost Rider as to the whereabouts of Javier.
211	* YouKilledMyFather: Javier towards colonel Salcedo, who made his horse stomp Javier's father to death during the botched escape.
212	[[/folder]]

Context Film / TheLastCircus