Teeth-Flicking Authenticity in ‘Evita’

An emotionally charged scene in the movie “Evita” shows Eva Peron’s mother with a young Eva and her siblings trying to enter the church grounds where, inside the church, the children’s father lies in an open coffin. The deceased’s legal wife confronts the woman and her husband’s illegitimate children, barring them from the funeral service.

Enraged, Eva’s mother makes a fist and with thumb extended places the thumb-nail behind the lower edge of her upper front teeth, forcibly jerking her hand forward toward the woman who bars her entry.

What does it mean?

This gesture, called the teeth flick, is an act of defiance. Commonly interpreted as sign of scorn and disdain, it can be read literally as, “I would not even give you the dirt from under my fingernail.” The gesture was probably brought to Argentina by its large numbers of Italian immigrants. Once popular in Italy, use is fading except in Sicily.

The teeth flick was documented as far back as 17th century England, where it has since disappeared. Today the Greeks use it the most to express anger, while in Northern France the teeth flick means praise for food. Another Italian gesture occurs in “Evita.” Che, the editorializing narrator, brushes the backs of his fingers under his chin, then outward. Known as the chin flick, in northern Italy it means “Don’t bother me,” while in southern Italy it is less an insult and more a sign of disinterest.