Page - 62 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

62 | Eva Meienberg www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 58–63 overlaid on the film. They are commentary, but they also refer to another level of reality. Rosalía is not only heard; she also appears to us. The vision is of a woman in front of an altar, looking into the camera and addressing us with her chant. The driver makes a turn and enters the driveway to a graveyard through a stone gate. At the end of a long white wall the headlights catch Rosalía. Sitting on a throne-like chair in a golden robe with scattered flowers and her long hair entwining her body, she seems to be a representation of the Virgin Mary and a Renaissance painting of a classical goddess. The camera leaves the car and approaches Rosalía. Her singing becomes more urgent; she gets up and starts towards an emotional crescendo. With her eyes closed, her gaze is directed inwards, from where the energy orig- inates that is visualised as symbols. Flames and lightning escape her body. Tears spurt out of her eyes and shackles wrap themselves around her, which she immediately breaks again. Skulls, flaming daggers, coffins and the eye of providence appear. The sequence forms a memento mori combined with symbols of the all-seeing eye. In the poem The Dark Night of the Soul John of the Cross describes the path through the dark night that leads to God. The motif of the tormented night also appears in the lyrics of Rosalía’s “Aunque es de noche”. But she defies the darkness. She knows the source of life, light, desire and knowledge. She her- Fig. 5: Music video still from Aunque es de noche, Rosalía, 00:03:47.