Cinema with Ñ: Pedro Almodóvar
In this post you’ll find:
- A short biography,
- our top 8 Pedro Almodóvar’s movies,
- and more interesting content.
Table of Contents
Intro
You may not be an expert in Hispanic cinema, but the name Pedro Almodóvar is likely to ring a bell. With two Academy Award and more than twenty films under his belt, he has become the most international and one of the most awarded filmmakers in Spanish cinema.
A Multifaceted Artist
What you probably don’t know is that in the 80s, as well as starting out in the film industry, he also made music with Fabio de Miguel, AKA Mcnamara. In the midst of the ‘movida madrileña’, which is how this countercultural movement that emerged in Madrid after the dictatorship is known, he was one of the multifaceted artists who dedicated himself to different disciplines such as: film, music, literature, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTMlv9zuKs
If you want to learn more about the movida madrileña, listen to our podcast on this topic and keep improving your Spanish.
You can continue reading about Almodóvar’s musical side in this article.
A Brief Biography
Pedro Almodóvar was born in a small town in Castilla La Mancha in 1949. The rural life and traditions of his village, Calzada de Calatrava, would be fundamental to the aesthetics and narratives of his works. He moved to Madrid to study film, but was unable to do so and had to work in a telephone company while he wrote, performed in theatre, acted with his music group and began to shoot his first films. He never studied cinema, he is 100% self-taught.
In a small theatre company (Los Goliardos) in Madrid he met and became close to Carmen Maura, who would be the star of eight of his films and one of his most iconic actresses along with Penélope Cruz.
He founded his own film production company called El Deseo with his brother Agustín in 1985. From that moment on, they not only produced their own films, but also helped to develop the projects of other filmmakers such as Isabel Coixet, Félix Sabroso, Dunia Ayaso and Álex de la Iglesia, among others.
He’s been fully supportive of Spanish culture and left-wing parties PSOE and Podemos, and he’s considered an LGTBIQ+ icon.
Do you want to get to know this Spanish artist better? Here you have an interview with the director regarding the publication of his book El último sueño, in 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzavLViP4Zs
Chicas Almodóvar
The actresses who work with him are known as chicas Almodóvar or ‘Almodóvar’s girls’ and working with him is the dream of most Spanish-speaking actresses. Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquín Sabina composed a song about this in 1992 called La chica de Almodóvar. The lyrics of the song are full of references to the titles of his films and the names of the actresses who had become ‘Almodóvar’s girls’ during the first decade of his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raFlGrP2rp8
If you want to see the director with one of his most famous chicas Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz, we’ve included an interview they both did in 2022 for Dani Rovira’s show La noche D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JibEPnM5xic
Our top 8 Almodóvar’s movies
We have made a selection of eight of the most relevant films in his career, but if you want to know the complete filmography of this director, here you have a link where you will find more information about each of them.
His first cinematographic period was characterised by films that tried to break with what had been done so far and showed characters that represented the spirit of the Madrid ‘movida’ and the counterculture. However, his last and current period is more focused on the introspection and, although he continues to represent his own universe and style, his films are no longer synonymous of transgression.
There has been a lot of criticism against him for his high demands on actresses during filming and also for many of his contents and the way he deals with them. If you want to know more about these issues, we recommend this article on the changes his female characters have undergone in recent decades.
From Pepi, Luci, Bom to otras chicas del montón a Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios
His first film in 1980, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón, was the beginning of a career that has been full of recognition and controversy. However, it was not until 1988 with his seventh film, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, that he gained international recognition with his first Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, and other nominations for the Golden Globes, the Bafta and 15 nominations for the Goya (the Spanish film awards). Of the numerous nominations for this work, he received the award at the Venice International Film Festival for Best Plot and Screenplay and the CIAK Award for Best Actress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNzqS11n9mw
“Mujeres (al borde de un ataque de nervios) me catapultó al resto del mundo”.
(Pedro Almodóvar)
Todo sobre mi madre
In 1999 he once again achieved international success, now as an established director, with Todo sobre mi madre (All about my mother). With his second Oscar nomination he finally managed to win the award and this film, which is part of the history of Hispanic cinema, left us one of the most iconic phrases of his cinema:
“Una es más auténtica cuanto más se parece a lo que ha soñado de sí misma”.
(La Agrado, Todo sobre mi madre)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcVEvcP1iAc
This victory at the 2000 Oscars led to an iconic moment that many of us still remember. His friend, the actress Penélope Cruz, who has worked so closely with this director, was in charge of presenting him with the award, alongside another Spaniard, Antonio Banderas, and, when she read his name on the award winner’s envelope, she could not help but shout out a cry of joy. That ‘Pedro!’ from our most international actress has gone down in history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqk-vogchFk
From that year onwards, all his films were internationally acclaimed and followed by the public and critics with great expectation. In the years following the Oscar, he made some of the best-known films of his career.
Hable con ella, 2002
This film tells the story of Marco, a journalist whose girlfriend is in a coma in a hospital due to a bullfighting-related accident. At the hospital Marco befriends a young nurse named Benigno, who is caring for a dancer also in a coma due to another accident. It is a dramatic, twisted and dark story about love, heartbreak and the miseries of human beings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fl8tyEIXXI
With this work Almodóvar received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, his second Academy Award, among many other national and international awards.
https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/personajes-en-el-archivo-de-rtve/pedro-almodovar-gana-oscar-mejor-guion-original-hable-ella-2003/411689/
“Es siempre más difícil el segundo (premio óscar) y el tercero y el cuarto me van a hacer una ilusión que ya no lo puedo ni imaginar”.
(Pedro Almodóvar)
Volver, 2006
This film depicts the story of Raimunda and Sole, two sisters who have to face the return of their mother, who they thought had been dead for many years. It is a film about family ties and dark secrets, but above all it is a story of overcoming and sorority. In this film Almodóvar returned to work with the first ‘Almodóvar girl’: Carmen Maura, after 18 years without any contact, due to a feud they had after their last work together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp4u67AV8VI
“Volver se ha quedado para siempre conmigo de una manera tan fuerte a nivel personal, que no se acaba con los premios ni con las nominaciones”.
(Penélope Cruz)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyVjBJL8CmY
Los amantes pasajeros, 2013
This film is about the passengers and crew of a flight to Mexico City, who must endure the pressure of the plane’s technical failures and live through surreal situations. It is not one of Almodóvar’s best works, but below you can see the most iconic scene of this film and the reason why we have included it in our list: the dance of the stewardesses on the plane in which almost the entire film takes place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXfCS8QULoI
Dolor y gloria, 2019
This is Almodóvar’s most autobiographical film, in which the director mixes his life and career with fiction. It stars another of his favourite actors: Antonio Banderas and it was also highly awarded and well received by the public and international critics.
Fun fact: superstar Rosalía makes a small appearance in the film and sings alongside Penélope Cruz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJu7FAIdeyQ
La habitación de al lado, 2024
This year, 2024, the Spanish director made history by picking up his second award at the Venice Film Festival, something not achieved by a Spanish director since Luis Buñuel, more than 50 years ago. He received the Golden Lion for Best Film for The Next Room, which is also his first feature film to be filmed in English. Below you can watch a short video about his victory in Venice made by the Spanish public television RTVE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6fc_80D31k
If you want to know more about his latest film, here is the official trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAHg7WBatVA
In 2019 he did an interview in which Almodóvar himself talked about his complete filmography up to that point and some of the secrets he had never shared about them. Spoiler alert!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwNZd4iJD6A
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