Brilliant, unclassifiable and sometimes deliciously eccentric, Pedro Almodóvar built his Almodovarian universe for fifty years behind the cameras populated by imposing female characters who openly speak the language of love, sorrow, desire and unleashed passions, almost always with , maternity. as a backdrop. 29 film-shaped gems to see at least once in your life.
The last of them is “The room next door”Almodóvar’s first film shot in English, where two game monuments like Julianne Moore And Tilda Swinton They put all their talent at the service of the genius of La Manche. Taking advantage of its premiere, we remember the obligatory stops on the Almodovar filmographyperhaps the best Spanish director of all time.
What did I do to deserve this? (1984)
After cinematic experiences of all kinds, Almodóvar found the balance between its multiples pop references, underground Movida atmosphere and surrealism which permeates all his work, and a much more classic conception of cinema.
In “What Did I Do to Deserve This?” » the man from La Mancha put us in Gloria’s shoes (Carmen Maura), a frustrated housewife addicted to amphetamines who descends into madness.
for some prequel to Returnshares with him the rural origin of its protagonists and their forced adaptation to life in the big city, as well as the existential problems of the working class.
The Law of Desire (1987)
In 1987, Pedro Almodóvar dared to do something as controversial for the time as a homosexual triangle formed by Eusebio Poncela, Miguel Molina and a young man Antonio Banderas.
The story takes us to a hot summer in Madrid, where passions and feelings come to the surface. Pablo (Poncela) is immersed in a relationship with Antonio (Banderas), a man he does not love, since his true love is his ex-boyfriend Juan (Molina).
To win back his partner, Antonio begins a romance with Tina (Carmen Maura), Pablo’s sister, a woman with a dark secret. A tragicomedy of entanglement, Almodóvar delved into family relationships and childhood trauma in this story with traces of thriller.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Without a doubt, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” marked a before and after in Almodóvar’s career. Not only because he represented the first Oscar nomination (then for best foreign language film) for the director of La Mancha, who was beginning his international career, but because it represented the definitive qualitative leap and the confirmation that Almodovari’s universe was not only designed for a marginal audience.
Cult comedy with hints of melodramathe film made us exceptional spectators of the romantic breakup of Pepa (Carmen Maura) and Iván (Fernando Guillén), two voice actors.
While searching for the reasons why her lover abandoned her, Pepa will meet all kinds of colorful characters. Almodóvar reflected on life and love in this film full of black humor and pop spirit whose female characters, as always, make the history of Spanish cinema.
Tie me up! (1989)
Classic terribly ignored by Goya (15 nominations and no awards)‘Tie me up!’ This confirmed the excellent state of form of Almodóvar who, a year earlier, had amazed with “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”.
On this occasion, Almodóvar delved into the unhealthy relationship between Ricky (his favorite actor Antonio Banderas) and Marina (Victoria April), an actress with whom this impulsive young man is obsessed after a night of passion, and whom he decides to kidnap to win his love.
A captivating and provocative tragicomedy that is purely Almodovarian, the alchemy of Banderas and Abril has brought to life meticulously crafted characters, who between the romance, sex and humor They found love in the most unlikely situation.
Distant Heels (1991)
In the 90s, every film directed by Pedro Almodóvar was an event. The fault was the author’s seal marked, those extravagant and intense stories that they could only come from the mind of the man from La Mancha.
That’s what happened with “High Heels,” a fascinating story of maternal filial rivalry between Becky del Páramo, a woman who left everything (including her daughter) to succeed in song, and Rebeca, her descendant, who will end up marrying her mother’s great love. A murder mystery would put on his trail the judge in charge of the case, a magistrate (Miguel Bosé) which at night turns into drag queen.
In this film, Almodóvar plunges, in the tone of a tragicomedy with thriller overtones, into childhood traumas and maternal love through two wonderful female characters played by Marisa Paredes and a Victoria Abril who has never been better.
All About My Mother (1999)
The pinnacle of the most purely Almodovarian cinema, “All About My Mother” has once again placed all the dramatic weight of the plot on a maternal figure (a constant with the director of La Mancha), to tell us the harsh story , intense and sentimental of a woman (Cecilia Roth) who, after seeing his 17-year-old son die tragically, goes to Barcelona to find his father and tell him the bad news. The surprise will come when she discovers that the parent she is transsexual.
With a less risky composition than in previous films, Almodóvar has once again dazzled with a fascinating melodrama, full of memorable characters, especially femalewho can only coexist in their universe, and who played in a story of feelings, AIDScross-dressing or even existentialism.
A resounding success, the film became a box office phenomenon, adding to its 7 Goya Awards and, now in Hollywood, the Golden Globe and the Oscar for best foreign language film.
Talk to Him (2002)
The success of “All About My Mother” worked against this film, which was unfairly treated in our countrybut unanimously applauded beyond our borders.
Without being considered a Spanish candidate for the Oscar by the National Academy and losing 6 of the 7 Goyas he aspired to‘Talk to him’ stood up with the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Almodóvar earned his only nomination for the golden statuette as best director.
For the first time, the director of La Mancha carried the weight of the story on the shoulders of two men (Javier Camara And Dario Grandinetti), and showed that, regardless of gender, few people like him have mastered the art of character creation.
In the realm of the melodramatic, “Hable con ella” brought together Benigno (Cámara), a nurse in love with a patient in a coma (Leonor Watling), and Marco (Grandinetti), a writer whose girlfriend (Rosario flowers), bullfighter by profession, is also in a coma.
A strong friendship would arise between the two over the course of their two love stories, each with its own particularities, which progress in parallel as they talk about love. pain and loneliness with bullfighting in the background.
Bad Education (2004)
With a theme as Almodovarian as the gender identity As a backdrop, the director of La Mancha has composed a complex film, full of edges and dark areas, the kind to be won with a second viewing.
In this document, Ignacio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Enrique (Felé Martinez) are two children who discover their first love within the walls of a rigorous religious institution during the Franco era.
victims of abuse of the priest who directed it, both would meet again years later, one as an actor in search of opportunity, and the other as a renowned director.
With large doses of film noirin which Bernal’s transvestite character assumes the role of femme fatale“Bad education” spoke of forbidden loves, anticlericalism and childhood trauma.
Return (2006)
In this fascinating film, Almodóvar makes sense tribute to his mother, who died in 1999and he writes a story in which he reveals much of his childhood experiences and the matriarchal influence that did him so much good.
Wrap’, Penelope Cruz is Raimunda, a woman from La Mancha living in Madrid, married to an unemployed man (Antonio de la Torre) and mother of a teenager (Yohana Cobo). She and her sister (Lola Dueñas) miss their mother (Carmen Maura, returned to Almodóvar’s universe 18 years later), who died in a fire. Surprise for both when she appears transformed into a ghost with many things to say.
With this film, Almodóvar managed, as rarely, to reconcile admirers and detractors around a visually beautiful and exciting work, in which, despite reducing its most extravagant side to a minimum, he managed to offer us a handful of memorable female stories. characters.
Especially that of Penélope Cruz, who has never been so immense, and who received her first Oscar nomination.
The Skin I Live In (2011)
After flirting for years with the thriller in some of his most notable works, Pedro Almodóvar dared to make a 100% genre film.
To do this, he adapted the novel ‘Tarantula’ by Thierry Jonquet and he turned to his favorite actor, Antonio Banderas, to become Robert Ledgard, a mad doctor who spent years designing skin sensitive to caresses but resistant to any type of aggression, and which would have served to save the life of his wife. , killed in a fire. But for the project to succeed, he needs a “guinea pig”, a new woman.
With “The Skin in Which I Live”, the man from La Mancha signs a film without prejudice, risky and even schizophrenic, in which nothing is what it seems. Between extravagant plot twiststhe director looked at trauma, revenge and gender identity and left a new Almodóvar girl for posterity: Elena Anaia.
