¿Se pronominal o se impersonal? "ni siquiera podía decirse que hubieran [...]"

Question

Following is a passage from Augusto Monterroso's Movimiento perpétuo about the first contact between Juan and Julia:

[…] Y en cuanto pudo lo besó y lo cercó y lo llevó a donde quiso y le presentó a sus amigos y lo emborrachó y esa misma noche, cuando aún no sabían ni sus apellidos y cuando como a las tres y media de la mañana ni siquiera podía decirse que hubieran acabado de entrar en su departamento —el de ella—, sin darle tiempo a defenderse aunque fuera para despistar, lo arrastró hasta su cama y lo poseyó en tal forma que cuando él se dio cuenta de que ella era virgen apenas se extrañó, no obstante que ella lo dirigió todo, como ese y el segundo, el tercero y el cuarto año de casados, sin que por otra parte pudiera afirmarse que ella tuviera nada, ni belleza, ni talento, ni dinero; nada, únicamente aquello.

Now the English and French translations discarded the part in bold completely.

Even though at first sight it looks like a regular se impersonal ("when [...] one couldn't even tell they had just entered her flat"), I interpret "decirse" as refering to Juan and not talking in general (because the first one doesn't make sense to me in this context): "when around three thirty in the morning he couldn't even tell [for he was drunk] that they had just entered her flat".

Do you see this interpretation plausible, grammar and contextwise?

Answer 1

No, Juan was not trying to decide if he was or not inside the flat. The phrase is related to the next one. It's not about the degree of drunkenness, it's about speed.

ni siquiera podía decirse que hubieran acabado de entrar en su departamento —el de ella—, sin darle tiempo a defenderse aunque fuera para despistar, lo arrastró hasta su cama

The scene described by the author implies that Julia "attacked" him just when they were entering. They were not outside neither fully inside yet. If there were someone observing the scene, that someone couldn't decide if they were already completely inside the apartment or not because the "attack" were so fast, they could be at the middle of the doorway when it begun, she didn't wait for the door to close.

Your first interpretation was right: se impersonal.

none could tell if they were already inside

or

you couldn't tell if they have already walked through the doorway

or something like that

Answer 2

y cuando como a las tres y media de la mañana ni siquiera podía decirse que hubieran acabado de entrar en su departamento --el de ella etc.

and when, at about 3:30 in the morning, when you couldn't even have said whether they had made it inside the apartment --her apartment etc. (or, instead of "made it inside," you might prefer "actually come into")

Here, I think of "decirse" as similar to what would be the passive voice in English, as in, "it couldn't even have been said." I think this matches up with what you call "se" impersonal.

Answer 3

Grammatically, no. It's an interesting inference from an artistic standpoint, but the construction does not refer to him at all.