‘I sometimes have the impression that reality is simply there to provide material for my next film’
Pedro Almodóvar
No one makes films quite like Pedro Almodóvar. His remarkable body of work embraces melodrama, screwball comedy, noir and sci-fi, all worked through with a magical imagination that has produced a genre all of its own – it’s what the Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante termed Almodrama. Almodóvar’s cinema is rightly celebrated for its irreverence and wit, its humour and humanity, and for the plethora of beguiling characters that live on in our imaginations – from Chus Lampreave’s quirky grandmother in What Have I Done to Deserve This?! to Carmen Maura’s warm and witty Pepa in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. This is a chance to relive his films anew – tales of transformation and renovation realised with a deftness of touch that Almodóvar has made all his own.
Text by Maria Delgado with thanks to the BFI.
Previously in this season
Cinema
What Have I Done to Deserve This?!
Almodóvar turns the kitchen sink drama on its head with this comedy set in Madrid.
Cinema
Law of Desire
This melodrama of love triangles, refashioned families and high theatrics is the first of the director's works to be commercially released in Britain.
Cinema
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
This wild and wonderful screwball comedy sees Carmen Maura in glorious form as a spirited dubbing actress, keen to track down her elusive ex-lover.
Cinema
Dark Habits
A plethora of eccentric nuns inhabit the Convent of Humble Redeemers where junkie nightclub singer Yolanda seeks refuge following her boyfriend’s overdose.
event
One Hour Intro: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar
Carmen Herrero, Head of Spanish at Manchester Metropolitan University, will lead an introduction to the filmmaking of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar.