Professor’s Research Uncovers Censorship in French TV Adaptation of “La Celestina”

During the 2023-2024 academic year, Professor José Eduardo Villalobos Graillet of the Department of Anthropology and Languages embarked on a scholarly journey to Paris, France. His mission was to explore the archives of the National Audiovisual Institute and the National Library of France. There, he meticulously examined censorship files related to the 1967 French television adaptation of “La Celestina” (1499) by Fernando de Rojas, directed by Roger Kahane for the French Radio and Television Office (ORTF).

Dr. Villalobos Graillet discovered that the 1967 television adaptation, titled “La Célestine” and based on Georges Brousse’s French translation, faced significant creative censorship during its production. In order to meet the television network’s schedule and reduce production costs, the adaptation was shot entirely in studios with limited rehearsal and recording time. This resulted in numerous changes, cuts, and omissions that reduced the original running time from three hours and forty minutes to just two hours. Key scenes such as the death of the matchmaker Celestina, the execution of Calisto’s servants, and the Treaty of Centurio were notably omitted, dramatically affecting the rhythm of the narrative and its dramatic and tragic elements.

Despite these limitations, Dr. Villalobos Graillet highlighted Kahane’s innovative approach to the release of his adaptation. Kahane first broadcast the television version of "La Célestine" on ORTF’s Channel Two in early April 1967. Shortly thereafter, he presented an uncensored stage version at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, including the scenes omitted from the television broadcast.

This dual-format release was unusual at the time and underscored Kahane’s commitment to preserving the integrity of the original work while adapting it for different media. Dr. Villalobos Graillet’s research highlights these significant contributions and emphasizes the director’s creative solutions within the constraints of censorship. eHumanista, an academic journal of Iberian studies, recently published Dr. Villalobos Graillet’s findings as a result of his exhaustive research. Overlooked by critics and scholars for more than half a century, this French adaptation, “La Célestine,” is finally receiving the attention it deserves.

Read the full article in Spanish here: https://www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu/volumes/58