This book, through a close reading of eleven films from the silent era to the present, analyzes filmic responses to the tragic and the enduring presence of forms, themes and motifs that belong to the tragic tradition in Spanish Cinema. It argues that a tragic aura permeates many of the films produced in Spain in the 20th and 21st centuries, and constitutes not only an essential element of these films but also a key factor in their aesthetic and ideological efficacy and commercial success.