1. “She got depressed and had some gazpacho”
Maybe Almodovar had watched a few episodes of Eastenders before penning many of his scripts. This famous quote from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown exemplifies his bizarre balance of surreal comedy and domestic drama to a tee. A soap-opera storyline involving a messy break-up explodes into a hysterical, almost slapstick comedy, with a handful of car chases, drugs and terrorists thrown in for good measure. Drama? Huh?
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2. 2. It’s all about his mother
The female presence in all of Almodovar’s films is an incredibly powerful one.
Where the male characters are sometimes glossed over to the point where they become a simple implement for the female characters’ evolution (Volver’s Paco’s only role being to act inappropriately towards his daughter and then die by her hand), the women are resilient and determined in the face of adversity.
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3. When in doubt, use red
You’ve got it: Almodovar’s favourite colour. Used to exemplify passion, hatred and violence, the colour appears in most of his films. From Penelope Cruz’s dress in Volver to the blood on the knife she pulls out of her boyfriend’s chest, from garish lipstick to gazpacho, red is Almodovar’s ultimate fetish – implementing both the comic and tragic sides of his storyline, the love and the hatred fuelling his characters. And yes, he presents it as an essentially feminine colour, epitomizing the fiery and exuberant character of his female creations.
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4. Familiar faces
Most film-makers have favourite actors they enjoy working with, and Almodovar is no exception. From the female actresses such as Marisa Paredes who started off in The Flower of My Secret and returns in Dark Habits, Sister Manure and most recently The Skin I Live In, to Carmen Maura and Penelope Cruz in Volver, Live Flesh and Broken Embraces, and of course Antonio Banderas who plays an unhinged bullfighter in Matador, a gay terrorist in Labyrinth of Passion and a plastic surgeon in The Skin I Live In.
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5. Sex and death, eternal themes
The film-maker comments on this: “I discovered that the only way for me to recognize death is just as if it were part of life, if you link it with sexual pleasure.”
I’m So Excited, Almodovar’s most recent film, takes the viewer to new heights on a journey fuelled by sexual desire, alcohol and the fear of imminent death. But here, he chooses to confront the two themes with laughter, as opposed to previous films in which the fear of death and the perversion of sexuality are illustrated by violence and blood. The Skin I Live In demonstrates all the violence of sexuality by making it culminate in a gruesome form of death – no characters are spared: Norma and Vera are both raped repeatedly, two characters commit suicide and most of the male characters are shot to death (sometimes during the act of sex). This film, which was described by Almodovar as “a horror story without screams or shouts”, and I’m So Excited, show two different stances the film-maker takes on sex and death – the tragic side, and the funny side.
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