Sunday’s illness: between psychoanalysis, abandonment and cinema

Abstract

Sunday’s illness is a Spanish film directed by Ramón Salazar that deals with the relationship between a mother and daughter marked by maternal abandonment. This paper seeks to conduct a film analysis of the aforementioned work through a psychoanalytic lens, dialoguing with classical and contemporary authors in order to explore the psychic constitution in this context and understand the consequences of maternal abandonment in adulthood. The analysis of the film aims to illustrate the process of interpreting clinical content, drawing parallels between the film and clinical vignettes. The conclusion offers an interpretation that enables the understanding and reframing of the events portrayed in Sunday’s illness, also considering the implications of psychic emptiness conditions in contemporary times.