Umbracle (1972) is an exploration of the iconography, fantasies, and surreal encounters of Francoist Spain. Portabella conceived of the film as having a spiraling structure in which the repeated visits to the museum would echo each other, much as the flaneur-like observations of the character played by Christopher Lee are mirrored in the looks and movements of the figure surveilling him. Lee's recitation of Edgar Allen Poe's Romantic poem "The Raven" (1845) is the indelible center of this mysterious and haunting film.