Unlike Cuadecuc, Umbracle features several scenes of synchronized sound, including a notable scene where Christopher Lee recites Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and sings opera in an empty theatre, and a lengthy sequence of Spanish filmmakers discussing censorship in their country very frankly, their statements later reinforced by a nearly 15-minute segment from a pro-Franco film.
Any sound effects used in the film usually have no relation to the scenes themselves, for example the sound of a telephone ringing can be heard in a scene where Lee witnesses a kidnapping, or people shouting solfa at different intensities whilst Lee walks the street.
Umbracle is made up of fragments (some are archive footage) that resound rather than progress by unusual links, with dejá vu scenes that promise us more but remaintensely unfinished.
Jonathan Rosembaun said: "few directors since Resnais have played so ruthlessly with the unconscious narrative expectations to bug us".
Learning from the feeling of strangeness caused by Rossellini as he threw well known actors into savage scenery in southern Europe.