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Trevor Klein
ENGL 344
May 5, 2015
Spanish Diversity: Pedro Almodovar as an Auteur
Throughout the world, many directors have made careers from their own personal
conceptions, visions and outlooks on life. Modern names such as TimBurton and Quentin
Tarantino, along with classic directors such as Alfred Hitchcock all come to mind when
considering such personal visionaries. The term used commonly to describe these filmmakers is
auteur; put simply, an auteur is a director who creates such distinct messages and images in his
films that he or she, by audiences and critics alike, becomes considered the “creator” of the
films he or she works on. One of the most recognized of modern auteurs is that of director
Pedro Almodovar. The Spanish filmmaker’s unique visions and outlooks on life provide
connections between each of his seemingly unrelated films, confronting a multitude of topics
including personal fears, societal diversity, and sexuality. Each of Almodovar’s films portrays a
modern interpretation of family in a way that most other films have not. By confronting and
altering traditional views, Pedro Almodovar truly stands out among his peers. In two of his
more recent films, Talk to Her (2002) and All About My Mother (1999), Almodovar’s obsessions,
ideals, and quirks are clearly laid out before an audience. The large quantity of similar factors
within story and style between these two films demonstrate Almodovar’s rightful position as
one of the most unique auteurs of the modern cinema worldwide.
As each filmopens, we are greeted with one of Almodovar’s strongest obsessions:
medical equipment. In their opening scenes, each of the films provides the viewer with tight
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close-ups of medical supplies including nutritional drops, life support systems and heart
monitors. These images are somewhat confusing for the audience at the time they are
demonstrated, but later tie into each film’s plot in one way or another. In the earlier film, they
demonstrate Manuela’s career and, to an extent, foreshadow Esteban’s accident while in the
latter, they foreshadow the comatose state of both Alicia and Lydia. Almodovar’s method of
presenting the audience with the central motivations behind the plot this early in the film can
be seen as a somewhat puzzling approach. Perhaps his intention is to alienate the viewer in an
attempt to make them consider the analogies the films later produce, such as Esteban’s heart
transplant. On the other hand, he may be demonstrating that everything is connected, as each
of the plotlines is triggered by a trip to the hospital. To elaborate, in All About My Mother,
Esteban’s death at the hospital triggers Manuela’s return to Barcelona while in Talk to Her,
Lydia’s comatose state causes Marco and Benigno to meet, in turn triggering their friendship.
Complimenting this obsession with hospitals even further, both Manuela and Benigno are
nurses at the opening of each film. One could consider that the focus on medical equipment in
each film says something about the world: we are all sick in one way or another, requiring some
form of life support such as family or fictional love to stay afloat.
Another obsession of Almodovar’s is that of the stage. Each film shows the central
characters viewing a live performance piece at least once. In the earlier film, the classic play, A
Streetcar Named Desire, is both heavily referred to and tied into the plot while in the later film,
Marco and Benigno witness a somewhat abstract interpretive dance in a dream sequence.
Similar to the hospital hyperbole, these plays serve as devices foreshadowing later plot
elements. In Talk to Her, two dancers perform the same movements with one delaying behind
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the other. Each dancer moves as if they were a puppet on strings, very similar to the way in
which the two central characters act as “puppeteers” for their female counterparts later in the
film. Again, tying events together, Almodovar makes it clear that the object of Benigno’s
affection was once a stage dancer. Manuela, on the other hand, clearly states that “Streetcar”
marked her for life, which we can see through the cuts of the play throughout the filmthat
clearly sync up with Manuela’s background. For example, one of the first times the audience
sees the play is the scene in which Stella leaves her husband, taking the baby with her. Manuela
describes the way she leaves Esteban’s father in an all too similar fashion. Almodovar’s
reasoning behind the use of stage is demonstrated in his dedication to “actresses who play
actresses, women who act and all men who act as women”. The first part of the dedication is a
clear nod to actresses such as Bette Davis, but the two portions that follow demonstrate the
director’s own views on sexuality and gender. Overall, Almodovar’s usage of live performance
demonstrates that “actors” can act on and off of a stage setting. Such a view on men acting as
women and women acting in general references the strong transgender and homosexual tones
seen throughout either film.
In both films, Almodovar heavily hints at his own philosophies on gender, diversity and
sexual desire. The filmmaker challenges classical views through both the plotlines and
characters of both films. From physicality to personality, some characters appear to contrast
with classical gender roles in one way, but reinforce them in others. Take for example Lydia in
Talk to Me; the character is a bullfighter, a prominently male sport, and has somewhat
masculine features, especially in the face. Judging upon Almodovar’s other films, it isn’t too
strange to consider that Lydia may represent someone who is transgender through masculinity.
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In contrast to that thought, she is also shown cowering in fear at the sight of the snake
moments later, reinforcing feminine qualities. Benigno, in a reverse state, shows similar
qualities to Lydia. Through his actions, his sexuality is questioned throughout the film to the
point of even the audience considering him to be homosexual. As the plot begins to take off,
however, we are assured that, like Lydia, he is straight, but simply features qualities opposite
that of the average man. The sexual overtones of Mother are much more blatant as the main
cast includes two transgender males, a somewhat masculine female, and a nun who falls for
one of the aforementioned transgender males, twisting her own sexuality even further. These
tones further complement Almodovar’s philosophy of people as “actors”, demonstrating that
people you would ignore at face value can “play” vivid, interesting characters after being
studied for a short time. Put simply, we are introduced to these characters as people first, and
men or women second. Overall, the topic of family remains intact as Almodovar makes it clear
that the not-so traditional, changing model of family presented in each film is still a family all
the same.
The approach in which Almodovar constructs a story is a somewhat interesting strategy
as well. Studying these two films, it is apparent that Almodovar divides plot into three points:
Humble, everyday beginnings; a complex, somewhat alien middle; and an ending that combines
the complex and humble tones together. By doing this, the director makes his audience relate
to characters they later find to be very different than themselves, only to discover by the end
that they are still relatable. In All About My Mother, we start by witnessing the everyday son
and mother, following the same mother to Barcelona where she was once a prostitute, only to
then see her reconnect with the father and raise a new Esteban. In Talk to Her, a simple
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romance plot between a reporter and bull fighter turns into two men discussing their love for
comatose women, only to end with a man mourning his dear friend, meeting the woman who
triggered the turn of events. While each follows this three point system, the adoption of
Esteban and the meeting of Alicia leads to the belief that Almodovar intends for his plotline’s to
go full-circle as a mother is left with a child and a man is left with a woman his dear friend
loved. This entertaining method allows Almodovar to introduce diversity in small, steady doses
to an audience that may otherwise deny it.
One could consider that Almodovar conveys his message not only in dialogue, but the
way in which he films each scene. In both films, the visuals paint a picture of what exactly is
going on. Through clever use of traditional shots and focal pointing to more abstract extreme,
skewed close ups and long shots, Almodovar creates a language of his own. Without subtitles,
an audience can still grasp the tone and events of most every scene through music, sound
effects, and visuals alone. This divide between visual and oral language makes the two films
enjoyable the world over without usage of any translation whatsoever. This is especially clear in
his usage of stage shows, which, in terms of dance and theater, focus on bodily movement first
and any form of dialogue second.
In conclusion, I consider Pedro Almodovar to be somewhat of a visionary. Although his
films featured characters I would not normally relate to, the ways in which they are presented
at the beginning and, to an extent, the end made me root for them and their goals throughout
each film. The way in which he seems to not require dialogue to tell a story proves his technical
competence while it is clear he has a signature style through his three point plots, references to
the stage and other aforementioned quirks. I believe Almodovar’s method of relating “non-
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relatable” characters to his audience demonstrates a truly interior meaning for his films as such
method cannot be completely rendered in any medium outside of cinema. Overall, Almodovar
establishes a strong middle ground between his own views and those of a rapidly changing
society and movie-going audience.
