Charlotte is a dwarf. Her mother, Leonor, has decided that no one will ever mention this — not in the house, not in the town, not anywhere. Charlotte grows up in a world where her difference is the most obvious thing in any room and simultaneously the one thing that cannot be spoken. When the sophisticated traveler Ludovico arrives and falls in love with Charlotte, he sees her clearly — which is both the most loving and the most destabilizing thing anyone has ever done for her. The title means "This is not discussed." Your students will spend ninety minutes discussing exactly it.
De Eso No Se Habla (María Luisa Bemberg, 1993) is an Argentine film that uses the Spanish of small-town provincial life — formal, oblique, layered with what is not said. For advanced Spanish students, this is a masterclass in the language of indirection: how Argentine culture navigates what is present by naming it absent. The vocabulary of silence — callar, disimular, ignorar, pasar por alto — is more textured here than in almost any other Spanish-language film.
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Key Themes for the Classroom
- Silence as violence: Leonor's refusal to acknowledge Charlotte's dwarfism is an act of love that becomes an act of erasure. Ask students: when does protecting someone become controlling them? What is the Spanish vocabulary for that distinction?
- Difference and desire: Ludovico desires Charlotte entirely — not despite her difference but including it. Ask students: what does the film say about what it means to truly see someone? What Spanish words describe that kind of attention: ver, mirar, percibir, reconocer?
- Small-town social performance: The town watches everything and says nothing. Discuss: what social contract requires that certain things remain unspoken? Is that contract different in Argentina than in your community?
One Scene to Use
The scene where Ludovico asks Leonor directly what she has never allowed anyone to say — asking about Charlotte's condition plainly and with respect — is the film's most dangerous moment. Leonor's response is one of the finest pieces of Argentine Spanish in the film. After watching it, ask students: what did Ludovico risk by asking directly? What did he gain? Write the argument in Spanish, one paragraph for each position.
One Low-Prep Classroom Activity
The title is a complete sentence: "This is not discussed." Give students five other Spanish sentences that express prohibition or avoidance: De eso no se habla. No me hagas decirlo. Mejor no tocar ese tema. Es mejor callarse. No hay nada que decir. They arrange them from least to most forceful and explain their reasoning — in Spanish. The activity is modality and social register in fifteen minutes.
The full Spanish lesson plan for De Eso No Se Habla is ready at filmarobics.com/products/de-eso-no-se-habla — $29.95.
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Students who work through this unit leave with Argentine Spanish vocabulary and the understanding that what a language refuses to say is sometimes more revealing than what it allows.
