CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

En el nombre del hijo

1987 film by Jorge Polaco

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ5375055 ↗
Source-derived summary

En el nombre del hijo ("In the Name of the Son") is a 1987 Argentine drama film written and directed by Jorge Polaco. It won a Golden Dolphin in the 1988 Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival.

Plot summary

The story is about the unhealthy relationship between a castrating mother and her homosexual son, Bobby, who is a doll repairman. They have an incestuous relationship, bathing together, sleeping together, and having sexual relations. Bobby's mother is possessive and jealous of his suggestive relationship with his clients, mostly girls. The story portrays Bobby as a man confused about his sexual identity, while his overprotective mother abuses him and seeks to relive the days of her youth.

Cast

Margot Moreyra as Madre

Ariel Bonomi as Bobby

Fernando Madanes

Goly Bernal

Sergio Lerer

Jorge Sabaté

Graciela Taquini

Alí Bargach

Ana Estrada

Berenice Soto

María Angélica Villar

John Bolster

Natalia Zamara

Marina Cabrera

María Celeste Dalairac

Alicia Muxo

Reception

César Magrini in El Cronista Comercial said: "Formidable aesthetic language... Margot Moreyra and Ariel Bonomi, and you have to see them to understand them, are capable of doing what they do because when they act, they strip themselves of their fears, and it is known that from this counterpoint only injuries, sores, and wounds are produced, which are hardly curable."

Carlos Troncone in Página 12 wrote: "Repression, among flowers of evil... In truth - suggests the film - there are no absolute monsters just as there are no beings who are absolutely normal.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “En el nombre del hijo” is 1987 film by Jorge Polaco. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through nombre, hijo and film, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1987, 1988—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1987-01-01. For this dossier, nombre, hijo and film is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1987 film by Jorge Polaco” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5375055. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1987 and 1988.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “En el nombre del hijo”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow En el nombre del hijo primary sources, En el nombre del hijo archive and nombre research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “En el nombre del hijo”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “En el nombre del hijo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.