IN PROFILE Pedro Almodóvar

The Spanish film director, Pedro Almodóvar, fills cinematic screens with wild passion, conflicting desire, chaotic family lives and identity crisis. Unhindered by taboos, he brings unconventional cinema to an international audience, giving insight into his sometimes shocking, often bewildering, but also heartfelt and human characters. The critically acclaimed director has been called the most influential Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel and represents Spanish film on the world cinema stage. Pedro Almodóvar’s is true to his vision, whether it fascinates or repulses.

With Pedro currently enjoying critical and commercial success with his latest film, The Skin I Live In, subtitledonline.com takes a look at his life and his career thus far…

"Any attempt to categorise Almodóvar’s work would prove pointless as he tempers with all genres."

Early life and experience

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero was born on 25th September 1949 to Antonio Almodóvar and Francisca Caballero in a small agricultural town called Calzada de Calatrava in La Mancha, Spain. Later, Pedro would say that this bleak and hard land had no understanding of colour, which inspired him to use even bolder flourishes in his films. Here, in this windswept region that later became the stage for his famous film Volver (2006), he grew up with his three siblings in a traditional Spanish household in poverty.

Bad Education was inspired by the abuse Pedro witnessed at school.

When Pedro was 8 years old, his family sent him to a religious boarding school in the region of Extremadura where he stayed until his adolescence. It was this school that later inspired him to indirectly speak of his experiences there, by writing and directing the film Bad Education (La mala educación, 2004), which deals with the sexual abuse of boys by priests. Pedro himself was not amongst the abused but, as the film portrays, he was nevertheless traumatised by the events. Luckily, there was a cinema in the town and, whenever he could, young Almodóvar would escape his reality and replace it with the visions of Luis Buñuel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alfred Hitchcock, John Waters, Ingmar Bergman, Edgar Neville, Federico Fellini, and others. The movie theatre became his refuge and true school.

Always feeling like a misfit and hoping to find his place, 16-year-old Pedro Almodóvar decided to move to Madrid, against the wishes of his parents, to pursue the career of a filmmaker. Unfortunately, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco had shut down the Official School of Cinematic Arts, fearing creative dissent.

With no money and nowhere to go, Almodóvar worked odd jobs here and there, supporting himself just enough to feed his hunger for cinema. Eventually, he found employment at the Spanish National Phone Company, where he worked for twelve years as an administrative employee. As his shift finished in the early afternoon, he had ample time to explore his own interests with the remainder of his days, which grew rapidly into a multitude of activities.

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown still

"Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown earned (Pedro) great international acclaim."

Living life to the full

Like a dry sponge, Almodóvar began to soak up everything he could. Through his job, he had access to the Spanish middle class, who provided him with stories of drama and housewife misery. In the afternoons, he would meet up with a theatrical group called Los Golirados. He learned to love, act, write and perform during the cultural renaissance that followed the fall of Francos regime over Spain, and contributed to Madrid’s flourishing alternative cultural scene. Alongside Fabio McNamara, he sang in a glam rock parody duo called Almodóvar y McNamara, whilst also writing articles under the pseudonym Patty Diphusa for newspapers and magazines. His own stories where eventually published in a compilation volume called The Dream Of Reason (El sueño de la razón).

Now that he was earning a living, he could finally afford to buy a Super-8 camera at the age of 22, and he immediately used it to record hand-held, short films with his acting friends. By the end of the 1970s, Almodóvar’s work of overtly sexual content circuited Madrid’s and Barcelona’s night life. Two Whores, or, A Love Story That Ends In Marriage (Dos putas, o, Historia de amor que termina en boda, 1974), The Fall Of Sodom (La caída de Sodoma, 1975), Homage (Homenaje, 1976), The Star (La estrella, 1977) and Sex Comes And Goes (Sexo Va: Sexo viene, 1977) were shown without sound. Almodóvar seized the opportunity to perform, and increased his standing by creating live voiceovers and music by himself when his films were being screened. Almodóvar quickly became the star of the pop cultural movement of late 1970s and early 1980s Madrid called La Movida.

Becoming a professional

After four years of experimenting with short films, Almodóvar created his first full-length film, Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Tim (Folle, folle, fólleme, Tim, 1978), in Super-8 format, and had his first experience with 16mm, producing the short film Salome – it was his first contact with professional filmmaking techniques. With the support and encouragement of his famous actor friends, Carmen Maura and Felix Rotaeta, Almodóvar would shoot his first feature length film Pepi, Luci, Bom And Other Girls Like Mom (Pepi, Luci, Bom y Otras Chicas del Montón, 1980) in 16mm, working on a very low-budget and with a team of volunteers. The film captured the zeitgeist of cultural and sexual freedom that corresponded with the political upheaval, and therefore quickly gained cult status. Pedro Almodóvar became known as agent provocateur with his kitsch and camp film style, as well as outrageous humour and unrestrained sexuality, in his first commercially successful film.

"Law Of Desire is a film that drew condemnation for its depiction of unprotected gay sex."

Now Pedro Almodóvar became relentless, and with never ceasing energy and ideas produced new films year after year: Labyrinth Of Passions (Laberinto de Pasiones, 1982), features the first appearance of Antonio Banderas in a gay comedy about multiple identities; Dark Habits (Entre Tinieblas, 1983) is a melodrama with an all-female cast; What Have I Done To Deserve This? (¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!, 1984) is a black comedy about a struggling housewife and her dysfunctional family; Matador (1986) is the dark story of a couple with murderous sexual appetite; and Law Of Desire (La Ley del Deseo, 1987) is a film that drew condemnation for its depiction of unprotected gay sex. By this point, Almodóvar had started his own production company, El Deseo, together with his brother, Agustín Almodóvar, who often plays minor roles in Pedro’s films. From then on, Almodóvar enjoyed the freedom that comes with producing one’s own films.

Strong, beautiful, funny, outrageous, sexy and often kinky females were prominent in Almodovar’s films, and soon he earned a reputation as an astute director of women. With his next film, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, 1988), a film filled with neurotic women, he earned great international acclaim – and, most importantly, access to the commercial American market.

Now, Pedro Almodóvar had entered the stage of world cinema as representative of contemporary Spanish cinema, but with it came the critique of a worldwide audience. His films are loved and hated for their explicit sexual nature, portrayals of abuse, and the strange mishmash of camp quirks and absolute seriousness.

Elena Anaya and Antonio Banderas in The Skin I Live In

"(With latest film) The Skin I Live In, he has created another piece of art true to his distinctive style."

In his long journey as a filmmaker, Almodóvar has matured into a director who fuses humour and emotional depth, a journey that has brought him to his more recent, acclaimed works, such as All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre, 1999), Talk To Her (Hable con ella, 2002), Bad Education (La mala educación, 2004), Volver (2006) and Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos, 2009). He can boast many awards from a French César to a Golden Globe, from a Goya to an Oscar.

Any attempt to categorise Almodóvar’s work would prove pointless as he tempers with all genres, especially in regards to character studies and narrative forms. He freely references film classics seen in his childhood and creates colourful, loud, misshapen, beautiful, ugly, disturbing, funny, confusing and profound film spectacles with one foot always anchored in realism. With his most recent picture, The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito, 2011,) he has created another piece of art true to his distinctive style that is continuously inspired by the life Almodóvar lives and loves.

Filmography

2011 The Skin I Live In

2009 Broken Embraces

2009 La concejala Antropófaga (short)

2006 Volver

2004 Bad Education

2002 Talk to Her

1999 All About my Mother

1997 Live Flesh

1995 The Flower of my Secret

1993 Kika

1991 Highheels

1990 Tie me up! Tie me Down!

1988 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

1987 Law of Desire

1986 Matador

1985 Tráiler para amantes de lo prohibido (TV short)

1984 What Have I Done to Deserve This?

1984 Dark Habits

1982 Labyrinth of Passion

1980 Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom

1978 Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Tim

1978 Salomé (short)

1977 Sex Comes and Goes (short)

1976 Muerte en la Carretera (short)

1976 Sea caritativo (short)

1978 Blancor (short)

1977 The Star (short)

1976 Homage (short)

1975 The Fall of Sodom (short)

1974 Two Whores, or, A Love Story that Ends in Marriage (short)

1974 Film politico (short)

Article by Simone Kubik

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