Death of a Cyclist (Muerte de un ciclista) is a 1955 film from Spain directed by Juan Antonio Bardem.
Two upper-class bourgeois folks, Maria José (Lucia Bosè) and Juan (Alberto Closas), are driving along down a backcountry road when they strike a cyclist. The cyclist is in fact still alive when Juan rushes over to check, but Maria insists that they get back in the car, and they drive away.
Besides the obvious legal implications, the other reason Maria José and Juan leave a man to die by the side of the road is that she's married to another man: Miguel (Otello Toso), a high-powered businessman. They elect to stay quiet and go back to their lives, Maria José as a society wife and Juan as a math professor. However, Juan in particular is racked by guilt. There's an even bigger problem in the form of Rafa (Carlos Casaravilla), an art critic and sort of hanger-on to the upper class. He knows something, and he starts making blackmail threats.
Tropes:
- Answer Cut: When making his first smarmy comments about Maria's secret, Rafa mentions her being in car, and pretends to be a customs agent, saying "Anything to declare? Lovers?" The film then cuts to Juan looking pensive.
- As You Know: Juan makes sure the audience understands the family relationships when he says "Her husband Jorge? Your son-in-law and my brother-in-law?" Made even more egregious by the fact that it was actually easy to guess from the context.
- Blackmail: Rafa the weaselly art critic and parasite attempts to blackmail Maria and Jorge with his knowledge of her affair (he doesn't know about the cyclist). Jorge successfully bluffs him into silence by saying that he simply doesn't believe it.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When Maria says the Spanish word for "blackmail"—chantaje—Rafa sneers "That's such an ugly word, and not even Castilian." This is a reference to dictator Francisco Franco's insistence that the Spanish film industry exclusively use pure Castilian Spanish.
- Black Sheep: Juan uses this phrase to describe himself. He's a mild example, but his life as an unmarried adjunct professor unlikely to get tenure pales in comparison to his more successful siblings.
- Book Ends: In the opening scene, Juan and Maria strike and kill a cyclist. In the last scene Maria runs over Juan with the car and kills him. She then speeds down the road, sees another cyclist, swerves to avoid him, sails off a bridge, and dies.
- Chiaroscuro: Juan, in the depths of his despair, sits in the foreground in a shadowy conference room with his Face Framed in Shadow. Matilde, appealing her unjust failing grade, walks in the back of the room and is completely bathed in light from a window as she calls to Juan.
- Conversation Cut: It so happens that Juan's brother-in-law Jorge is dean of his university. Juan, in full Sarcasm Mode, says "I might be dean too, thanks to Jorge, but—" and there's a cut to Carmina (Juan's sister, Jorge's wife) saying "My brother Juan's a failure."
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Dawson Casting: Inverted. While no precise ages are given, it is easy to conclude that Lucia Bosè is at least ten years younger than Maria José should be. - Dies Wide Open: Eyes wide open and upside down, as Maria dangles out of the car after careening off a bridge and crashing.
- Glasses Pull: A freaked-out Juan pulls off his glasses after reading the newspaper article about the cyclist.
- Ironic Juxtaposition: Bardem the left-wing filmmaker makes another point about Franco's Spain by showing rich kids at a fancy party running around while a society matron calls them to dinner, then cutting to poor kids running around and then buying beans from a street vendor in the slums.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Maria, who refused to help the stricken cyclist, swerves to avoid another cyclist, crashes, and dies. (Reportedly this was due to Spanish censors insisting that she had to be punished.)
- Match Cut:
- Juan puffs on a cigarette. Cut to Maria in a different place waving away the smoke billowing from her husband's cigarette.
- Rafa, in a rage after his blackmail bluff is called, flings a bottle at a window at the party. Cut to the university, where a student throws a bottle through an office window, as they demonstrate in protest of Matilde's failing grade.
- Ominous Fog: The country road is beset with fog. It sets an ominous mood, but it's also the reason that Juan (the driver) plows into the cyclist.
- Revealing Hug: It might not technically count as a reveal, since Maria had already expressed extreme skepticism over Juan's suggestion that they turn themselves in. But if there were any doubt, her empty dead-eyed stare, as Juan embraces her and says fervently that they'll be better off after confessing their crime, removes it.
- Sexy Sweater Girl: Matilde has one heck of a tight sweater and bullet bra combo going. It's rather odd given what she's doing, namely, demonstrating a complicated mathematical proof.
- Staggered Zoom: Two staggered zooms are intercut with each other. There's a staggered zoom in on the headline "MUERTE DE UN CICLISTA" that zooms in to the word "MUERTE", intercut with a staggered zoom into Juan's face as he reads, ending with a closeup of his eyes.
- This Is the Part Where...: Rafa, who's basically a smarmy prick, gets pushy with Maria, invading her space while he says "Now comes the scene between the wicked count and the virtuous lady."
- Toros y Flamenco: Rafa is playing the piano, helping entertain visiting American investors. He's asked what's next, and he snarks (in Spanish), that it'll be something "Spanish" like "Olé ole torero." Sure enough, the next scene shows a flamenco dancer with a mariachi band entertaining the Yankees.
- Visual Title Drop: Juan is rattled to see a newspaper article with the headline "MUERTE DE UN CICLISTA."
- What You Are in the Dark: Juan and Maria fail this test pretty spectacularly when they leave the cyclist on the road to die. Juan's redemption arc has him finally resolving to turn himself in and face the music.
