Quixotic Storytelling,Lost in La Mancha, and the Unmaking ofThe Man Who Killed Don Quixote

From Making of to “Generic Oddity”: The Case of Lost in La Mancha (Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, 2002)

“…The specific narrative discourse held by the film is defined as "Quixotic" by Donnell;8 this refers to the polyphonic, multiple narration it evinces and which results in an indeterminacy of meaning which according to Donnell, conveys and "adapts" Cervantes's narrative mode. To some extent, the film is metafictional, it deals not with film in general, but with cinema as an "addiction" and an escape from reality into fantasy.…”

“…Donnell even claims that the spectator is bound to enjoy the film more fully if he or she is ignorant of the fact that the film was eventually abandoned. 12 It is clear that the suspense-driven "plot" does work a lot better if the spectator does not know the ultimate fate of Gilliam's plan but the consistent ambiguity which is maintained in Lost in La Mancha throughout as to the completion or not of Gilliam's plan is an ambiguity which is to be felt by the spectator whether or not he or she knows (by reading the DVD cover, the film's reviews, etc.) that it tells the story of a failed attempt at adapting Don Quixote.…”