Pedro Almodovar, Spanish Auteur
He has trivialized rape. Made insane people and the abhorrent things that they do appear normal. Turned violence into farce. Exorcised the demons of his Catholic school days. Glorified sadomasochism and sexual perversion. Blurred the lines of sexuality. Made drug usage comedic. Celebrated the strong women who raised him by creating strong female characters in his films. Explored the themes of family and the lengths that mothers and children will go in order to protect each other, and the different types of love and hate that are the foundation of family units. Treated homosexuality and his homosexual characters as characters, neither exploiting nor celebrating them. Made feminist movies. Made international film stars out of his muses and lovers, both male and female. And, made extremely beautiful, watchable films based on some of the most disturbing premises imaginable. And, to celebrate the US release of his new movie “Volver” (Spain’s submission for Best Foreign Film in this year’s Academy Awards), there are simultaneous film festivals in both New York and Los Angeles to showcase the films of Pedro Almodovar.
I was a teenager when “Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios” (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), was released, and I was completely entranced by this story of a woman who has been wronged by her lover and, in hunting him down, encounters his other lovers, exes, and even his child. A terrorist subplot and a mass drugging are offered up as comedy, women (some who look like cross-dressers) are driven crazy by love, connections are known to us but not to the movie’s characters, and all along you are led to believe that a woman’s attempt to save a life are altruistic, but the plot twist at the end delivers a message of female empowerment within the setting of attempted murder, with no selflessness involved. What a powerful message for someone on the verge of womanhood, and filmed in stunning colours on stunning sets than enhanced the mania of the multiple plot threads. I began to explore his earlier movies, and found that they contained many of the same themes, although not so much so that they became predictable or boring….
Then (after another masterpiece !Atame! (Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down!”)) came “Tacones lejanos” (High Heels). While still dealing with the same themes of his earlier movies, this one is a departure from the campy comedies I had become familiar with; instead this was a more mature movie, dealing with the lengths a mother will go to protect her daughter, even after abandoning the same daughter while she was still young. While still funny and farcical, this was also a tearjerker that includes the best musical score used in any of his films (personal opinion), as well as introduced me to one of the worlds most beautiful and fabulous actresses, Marisa Paredes. “Todo sobre mi madre” (All About My Mother)is probably Almodovar’s best known movie (and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film), and High Heels has been described as his training wheels for All About My Mother, but while the basic premises of the two movies are similar, High Heels is Almodovar at his most beautiful.
If I were to create a Top 10 list of the movie scenes that moved me the most, Almodovar holds two places on the list, one of them being the scene at the end of High Heels where Marisa Parades’ character, a famous singer, sings the Mexican torch song “Piense en me”, crying and taking a last bow. I still tear up when I hear this song, and still think of his amazing use of the colour red to convey the longing and the love of her character in this film.
The other Top 10 scene is from “Hable con ella” (Talk to Her). Lydia (Rosario Flores) is critically injured in a bullfight, and while I can’t stand violence (even punches in a movie will cause me to look away) I watched this scene probably five times when I rented this film, one of the rare times I have ever viewed a scene over and over again due to its sheer beauty. And, to me, this movie highlights the genius of Almodovar. It is a disturbing film, not dealing with his usual theme of women who go to extremes for love but about two men who do so, and the horrible things they do to express their love. Once again he deals with dark themes, and I found the relationship between the rapist Benigno (Javier Cámara), and Marco (Darío Grandinetti), a journalist driven to despair by his love for Lydia uncomfortable. But, this is Almodovar’s genius, creating unsympathetic characters and not turning them into heroes or villains, but people whose motivations you can understand and accept as they make their difficult decisions in the name of love. This movie is amazing because it also highlights Almodovar’s ability to use symbolism to showcase the emotions of his characters without being overbearing or obvious (and won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.)
Almodovar’s tells sensational stories without sensationalizing his characters. He creates extremely flawed characters and then allows you to feel sympathy for them. He makes visually stunning films, using gorgeous music and the beauty of the actors he collaborates with, and locations and sets captured in amazing colours and with a passionate love of the landscape and cityscapes of Spain. In the US, Almodovar’s two best known actors are Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, and from watching any Hollywood film they have made you would never know what genius actors they are, how brilliant they are when working with Almodovar.
And now, he is once again collaborating with Penelope Cruz in Volver. Not only Penelope, a woman who he has professed his infatuation for in interviews, but Carmen Maura (his original and earliest muse), Lola Duenas, and Chus Lampreave, women who I have come to love from his other films. This is a movie about death that once again revisits his familiar themes of rape, incest, the power of love to make women strong, and the relationships between mothers, daughters and families. Last spring it won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes film festival for all SIX starring actresses, showcasing the fact that he is a woman’s filmmaker, a man who loves women and who creates strong, compelling female characters, even though his love for women is expressed through non-traditional stories. And, non-traditional they are. Feminist groups in the US have boycotted his films, and I myself have been disturbed by some of his characters actions and motivations. But, even though I have written about the darkness of the themes of his movies, they are uplifting films that in the end are about hope, love, redemption, and oftentimes new beginnings.
I am counting the days until I can see Volver here in Los Angeles and once again spend time in a darkened theatre, entranced by the vision of a filmmaker who has this time decided to tackle the topic of death through the stories of three generations of women. I know I will get upset. I know at times I will be puzzled by the motivations of his characters. And, I know I will see a beautifully filmed, magnificent story about admirable women and at some point I will cry and be reminded of my own convoluted relationship with my mother and wish that she were there with me to share the experience.
Tags: Spanish
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Ohh wow.. Brilliant Post T! Really looking forward for Volver in LA.. lets book it. I need to learn a shitload from you about foreign cinema.. When is the next claas Prof.?
@ Sumeet – In person or here at PFC ;)
Keep your eyes open, I have a draft review of a classic Japanese film on tap for later this week….
- Amazing writeup on dear Pedro \:d/ Thanks for introducing the talented director to me and now with this writeup to all those who haven’t seen his works before. Volvier is ready for release and I saw a trailer of the movie in one of the DVDs I recently rented from Netflix. By the looks of it, the movie rests entirely on Penelope’s shoulders. Sadly Netflix doesn’t have much of his works.
I remember how Shibani (Bathija) and you excitedly started talking about Volvier when you found you both like Almodovar’s works
- Wanted to add this note too. Your posts (and Chandni’s, WB’s and others) are one of the most important reasons why PFC was brought into existence. To bring out on these pages for discussion, the amazing cinema, that the rest of the movie mavericks may have been missing.
Usually cinema fanatics on desi boards review a movie, discuss it, fight about it, take sides on movie stars they like or dislike and that’s it. It’s sad cause I wanna know about cinema more than the handful of films that I’ve seen and experienced. Thanks again for this.
Blimey, you are a big Amodóvar fan, t!! :o
I can’t really say I like him although I must admit he is a talented man. But he is not a director whose films would please anyone, that’s for sure.
I think I have only seen “Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios” and “Volver”. I know many of his films would have disturbed me so I avoided many of the recent ones even though there was so much hype about them. I just didn’t have the courage to watch them. It’s not my kind of cinema. Even though I can’t remember much about Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (I think it is about time I watched it again!) I remember I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot.
Don’t miss “Volver” for anything in the world, although from what you’ve written I doubt you would! ;))
It is a good film, very well done and the acting is superb.
I am not a big Penélope Cruz’s fan but, again, I must admit she is quite good in this one.
Yes, Almodóvar will bring out the best in his cast.
BUT… watch out for Lola Dueñas and Blanca Portiño. I think they are very talented actresses. And you already know about Carmen Maura.
There are many funny moments in the film. Also some tough ones. I think you will have a nice time.
Neat writeup t! Thanks for introducing us to Pedro.His choice of subjects seems very interesting.Well I am a sucker of dark themes.
[-( One more European director I am always interested in knowing more is Krzysztof Kieslowski.I was lucky to see the first three episodes of The Dekalog when I was in States.And what an experience it was.I was completely bowled over by the Sabbath day episode.Talk about smallest details,there you have Krzysztof.
Any body from Chennai here and can give me pointers to DVD’s of Krzysztof and Pedro movies or infact any foriegn movies(The Tic Tac near my house has only this Hollywood pot boilers.)
just finished watching ‘Talk to Her’. my first of his.
dint know what to do.
dint know what to think.
thought of telling somebody i did.
here i am.
@oz – not all of his films have yet to be released on DVD. Netflix does have them on the Save list, and I encourage everyone who wants to see them (or any other movie Netflix doesn’t yet carry) to add them to their Save list, this is how Netflix determines interest in movies they are thinking of carrying.
And about your second comment, I am blushing, thank you for your nice words!
@Monica – Muchas gracias, me gusta mucho las peliculas de espana, especialemente las comedias. You should watch “!Atame!”, the last of his true manic comedies which is similar to “Mujeres…”.
You are right about him not appealing to everyone, but even the movies that are difficult to watch because of the story are fascinating to watch because he crafts perfect scenes, and is really one of the best working directors alive.
@ fourthwall – Kieslowski is a genius, although I don’t always think he was consistent in his films. The first three parts of The Decalogue were brilliant, and I also loved “Honour Thy Father and Thy Mother”. This is hard to find on video, but I would also recommend the Red, White and Blue trilogy (although I didn’t like Blue, it is interesting to see what he did with the three films thematically), as well as “A Short Film About Killing”. He is one filmmaker who died too young….
@ Kalki – Wow, you saw his most difficult film first. I felt dirty after watching Talk to Her. It is a perfectly crafted film and an amazing story (as well as one of my alltime favourite movies), but I felt guilty for loving it so much as the characters were so challenging. But that is part of Almodovar’s genius, causing you to fall in love with characters that also disgust you.
i love pedro and his brand of cinema, just one thing which makes me squirm, are those ‘awkward’ moments almost like a leitmotif, when his characters say things which seem forced, very uncanny(maybe its just me), pedro was the star of the late 70s spanish counter-culture movement, i wonder if we’ll have a really late movement in India, or are we are just going to pontificate over which movie should go to the oscars? rdb or lagey raho? and then go back to our tv sets and watch bollywood promos..
as for kieslowski, he died at 55, which is the perfect age to die, he had reached his peak, also one is weighed down by too many memories after 55. if you are 55 or more and reading this, please shoot yourself. i know i will, but dying of cirrhosis of the liver is more honourable i’ve heard. dekalog has to be the pinnacle of a consistent and a coherent ‘whole’ in cinema, and the ‘trilogy’.
p.s – working in the flea market increases your chances of becoming a filmmaker.
will pedro go to hollywood?
t! also check out kieslowski’s camera buff and no end.
@Madhur – I never replied to your comment because it was brilliant and funny and I have no idea how to respond. I just reread it and it is still hilarious.
I am curious, though, what you thought of the angel in the decalogue? I had to explain it to some of my American friends, but it made sense to me as it is a basic theme in Eastern European literature. How did you and others who have seen the movie percieve him and his role.
@Kolin – Go to Hollywood when. Frankly, I could care less, I just hope he goes to Palm Springs in January and does a Q&A at the Film Festival! I will totally see Volver again just to see him….
@tushar – My cousin is holding these for me for my next visit! He is the one who first exposed me to Keislowski, and it is even more awesome to experience the movies with him as he is Polish and always give me interesting cultural insights to Eastern European films we watch together….
oh thats great, t!
may be you can give us more insights on his cinema then.
holy crap, just finished watching “bad education”. t! this post on pedro.. you couldn’t have nailed it better.. i’m gonna have to keep revisiting it everytime i watch a movie of his! the characterizations in this movie left me speechless, and needless to say i’m gonna catch volver before it goes outta theaters! thank you for bringing him to my attention :D
You know, the more i visit this site, the more impressed i get.
You guys sure have taste.
I was very fortunate to see most of the films mentioned above at a cinema, but i’ll start with ‘La Mala Education’ (Bad Education).
I was absolutely thrilled by this movie!
What performances, what a story and the best thing is, its full of surprises!
A few of my friends didnt want to see it at the time of release, as they just tagged it as a ‘homo-erotic’ film which wouldnt cater to them?!
That’s so untrue!
Those of you who have seen it wil agree (I hope??)
Gabriel Gael Bernal is fast becoming one of my fave foreign actors, and like Audrey Tautao, I try not to miss his films either.
‘Talk to Her’ didnt really do alot for me.
Maybe I should revisit??
‘All about My Mother’ is yet another gem by Pedro. Its simply wonderful, and you really have to admire the courage and the whole casual approach he has when it comes to projecting Transexuals, Transvestites, Homosexuals, Women, Men, Cats, Dogs in his films!!!
Can you imagine our Indian directors doing so?? (well, i guess Onir is the first to present Sanjay Suri as a normal gay character in ‘My Brother Nikhil’, as opposed to the typical, screeching, loud queens we see!!)
‘Volver’ is an excellent film, don’t miss it for anything guys!
And I also didnt think too much of Penelope Cruz (although she was frist rate in ‘Gothika’) but here she delivers big time!
What a role… what a film!
Again, it is emotional, gripping, hilarious, thrilling all at the same time…
Now my heads buzzing with all these films and all those scenes!!!
Keep it up guys…
@ striker – Did you ever get a chance to see Volver? It was shortlisted this morning for the Oscars, and rightfully so….
@ Steve – If you didn’t like Talk To Her, don’t revisit it. I think I am one of a handful of people who liked this movie, and I have since given up recommending it to people ;)
Penelope Cruz is one of the best actresses working in the world, but is always completely wasted in American films. One of my favourite films of hers is Jamon Jamon, which I believe is her debut, and showcases just how amazing and beatiful she is.
I think Almodovar can play with “Transexuals, Transvestites, Homosexuals, Women, Men, Cats, Dogs” in ways that other directors can’t because that is his life; he was a true bohemian during the 70s and 80s, and like most artists, he is translating what he knows….