The Red Virgin (La virgen roja)

If women realized the utmost significance of being a mother,

they would carry out the task with their eyes set on the stars.

BASED ON REAL EVENTS

She was destined to be someone important.

She was supposed to be the first among all of us.

She came into this world to change it, but she didn't have the time.

There were three shots.

One to the face, one to the chest,

and a last one to the sex.

THE RED VIRGIN

But Hildegart's story begins long before that.

When I was still young

and the first treatises on eugenics arrived in Galicia.

My name is Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira. I am Hildegart's mother.

Thanks to my intellectual avidity and my father's fortune,

I had no boundaries growing up.

F. NIETZSCHE THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA

Thus, I learned about the findings on genetic improvement

and the fight for women's rights.

That's how I understood that it was us women

who had to shape the future of humanity.

But ideas are powerless if they aren't put into action.

That is why I decided to conceive a child myself that would be

solely and exclusively my own.

As a physiological contributor, I looked for someone

who could never claim it as his.

From my womb, a girl was born.

A eugenic girl, the first free woman.

I would like to point out that Hildegart did not come to life by chance,

nor by the simple animal desire of her parents to conceive her,

but as part of a perfectly-designed plan.

She had to be a pure being who would fight for a decent society.

She had to be the woman of the future.

She started talking at eight months old.

By the time she was two, she could read.

At three, she could write.

At four, she was a certified typist.

Seven o'clock. Get up.

She was raised according to strict eugenic parameters.

She'd always wake up at the same time.

Get up.

Every minute of her life was organized according to a plan.

Her nutrition and hygiene observed strict rules.

She would always have fruit and milk for breakfast.

Her dinners were light.

In order to improve her competitiveness and endurance,

she would practice sports.

At eight years old, she could speak six languages.

She was fluent in French, English, and Latin.

And she could translate from German, Portuguese, and Italian.

What is eugenics?

Eugenics is the application of the biological laws of heredity,

that is to say, genetics,

in order to perfect the human species and society.

At 14, she began studying medicine, law and philosophy at the university.

At 17, with honors, she became Spain's youngest lawyer.

Hegel believed that, as much as the capacity for freedom

is a potential characteristic in every member of the human species,

the state of being free is an achievement of a different sort.

Seven o'clock. Get up.

How do we differentiate...

the male from the female?

Careful, don't push the pen too hard because, you see?

She would study for five hours in the morning,

read for three hours in the afternoon,

and we would debate the arts before bath time.

Stop. That's enough.

What's the center of Nietzschean thought?

It's not coming off. That God is dead.

And that we're the ultimate makers of society.

Focus.

So?

- Was Nietzsche pre-existentialist? - No.

Nietzsche said one has to have chaos in oneself

to give birth to a shooting star.

My mother married me off My mother married me off

I was young and beautiful

Again.

And sit at the table.

I raised and educated her through the years.

I knew perfectly well how far she had to go.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Mom, where is my father?

You don't have a father, child.

That's why we are free.

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.

"Men were deceivers ever.

"One foot in sea, and one on shore,

"to one thing constant never.

"Then sigh not so,

"but let them go.

"And be you blithe and bonny.

"Converting all your sounds of woe

"into hey nonny, nonny."

Excuse me.

Excuse me. Mr. Guzmán can't see you right now.

- We've been waiting. - The monarchy has just fallen.

- Today is not an easy day, Mrs... - Rodríguez.

This is my daughter, Hildegart Rodríguez.

I can give you an appointment for two weeks from now.

Come back then.

The exit is that way, thank you.

Madam.

Madam!

You can't go upstairs without permission!

Madam, are you listening to me?

Madam, you can't go in there.

Madam!

Please don't let them in. Don't let them in!

Madam! Open this door immediately.

THE MONARCHY

May I know why you don't want my daughter's essays?

It is much better than what you usually publish.

Who are you?

I am Aurora Rodríguez, mother of Hildegart Rodríguez,

the author of the text The Sexual Problem Addressed by a Spanish Woman.

- Madam! - The Republic has just been proclaimed.

I have other priorities.

Our letter predates the king's abdication.

- Dolores! - Madam!

I am not asking you to publish it now.

The timing is up to you,

but when a regime falls, a new one must be built.

I would gladly publish the article.

But I cannot do so with your daughter's name on it.

Why not?

I usually publish the legitimate author's name.

What makes you think it is not hers?

How old are you, child?

Sixteen.

No 16-year-old woman can write this.

Hildegart can, and she is 16 years old.

I know you wrote it, Mrs. Rodríguez.

You could sign the article and settle the matter.

I don't like it when people try to fool me.

Dolores, please!

Guzmán, they locked it from the inside!

Ask her anything you want. Regarding the article or the topic.

You want me to talk about sexuality with your daughter?

Ask her whatever you need to know

to confirm that she is the author of the article you refuse to publish.

Very well.

What is sexual reform, miss?

In an abstract scope, it is no more than a proposal for the modernization

of the sexual and love life of human beings.

However, if you are asking me about the League

spearheaded by Mr. Havelock Ellis,

I can quote some of the bullet points of his program for you.

Go ahead.

Equal rights for men and women,

liberation of marital relationships from the Church,

responsible procreation,

conscious access to birth control for the proletariat,

protection of unmarried mothers,

understanding of intersex variants.

Should I keep going?

You could have memorized all of that.

Would you question it if she were a man?

Or would you be delighted

to publish and discover the child prodigy of your time?

Is prodigy somehow exclusive to the male gender?

In the sexual reform I talk about in my article,

I reflect, among other topics, on this.

Excuse my boldness, miss,

but what could you possibly know about female sexuality?

You are a child.

I would dare to say I know more than you do, Mr. Guzmán.

Despite my lack of experience.

- Long live the Republic! - Long live!

Long live the Spanish Republic!

Long live Spain!

Down with the monarchy!

- Long live the Spanish Republic! - Long live the Republic!

- Son of a bitch! - Hildegart, stay close.

Long live the king!

Hildegart!

Workers to power! Workers to power!

Look at the camera!

Spain is not Catholic anymore!

Why didn't you let Guzmán answer the question about the prodigy child?

Hildegart! Hildegart!

We are above provocations, never forget that.

You got carried away with Guzmán, and we can't get carried away.

- Long live the Republic! - Long live the Republic!

Long live!

Freedom! Freedom!

Long live the Republic!

The people will never be defeated!

What's the problem?

Where did you come from, you scoundrel?

The parable you establish

between the sexual emancipation of women and love is precarious.

The reader needs simple parables to understand complex concepts.

Simplicity may be a virtue, but intellectual scarcity is a mistake.

Okay.

Strawberries!

Madam. You'll ruin your dress.

Do you want some, Mother?