Zoom-in Online

Pedro and Penelope Cruz before the NY Film Festival press screening of "All About My Mother" (photo by the author)

On the occasion of a "Best of Almodovar" retrospective, Michael Atkinson has written a fascinating piece in the Village Voice, "A Tale of Two Pedros." His article poses the idea that there are two Almodovars: one is the "aging, camp-centric teddy bear" seen at festivals nowadays and the other is the younger Pedro, "one of the most reckless, diabolically inventive voices to arise from, or at least alongside, the postpunk years of Reagan Culture" (I thought Pedro sprang more directly from the Spanish cultural opening after Franco. But yes, he did come along at that time...)

It would be wonderful if Atkinson's article encourages people to check out Almodovar's brilliant early work. And I wholeheartedly agree that eight films is not enough to show the full range of Almodovar's talent. He has, after all, made over twice that many. I assume Atkinson knows that because Sony Pictures Classics is putting on the event, they are using the ones they own. But what he calls "safety belt," I would call maturity. Sadly, it's hard for more artists to sustain the blazing imperative of youth. All too often they flame out--their films decline in quality, or they stop altogether. For me it's a cause for celebration that there are directors like Bunuel and Almodovar that can keep going and make a different kind of movie. It's not just a tribute to them but a tribute to the glory of art. But that's my opinion and he is entitled to his.

Where I have a nit to pick is with his formula. I don't think you can slice his career in half like a loaf of bread. I think it's more complicated than that. For example, Atkinson only mentions Matador as an example of early Pedro. He doesn't mention the film that followed it, Law of Desire, which is as Sirkian as you can get, and similar in style and content to what would come later (In fact, its plot has many similarities with Bad Education.) Almodovar made all sorts of films at that time, some better than others. Many were much less savage than Matador. And they had a playful sense of camp as well as a hard-hitting For example, the wacky, but very moving What Have I Done to Deserve This? is the grandfather of all those kooky family films that have become Sundance perennials. (Not counting the very mature Little Miss Sunshine, which I love). For me, he didn't sell out with Women on the Verge..., it is instead the ultimate expression of this early period.

He followed with Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, High Heels, and Kika. Atkinson refers to these films as "uneven but sparky psychomania." I don't know about you, but I'd rather be called "reckless, diabolically inventive" than "sparky," even if I was making psychomania, which sounds really cool. I like these films, but honestly, I like them less than the ones before. The outrageousness was beginning to seem forced. A lot of people enjoyed the comic rape scene in Kika but I just found it nasty. I was starting to lose interest, and it bothered me.

After that trio, Almodaver made The Flower of My Secret, which I believe to be a watershed film in his career. Atkinson calls it a "limp women's drama." Almodovar stalwart Marisa Paredes plays a woman who is afraid her husband will leave her--and when he does, she can't accept it. She becomes desperate and out of control. The Flower of My Secret is an intense, searing film about loss and suffering. It captures the feeling of heartbreak so vividly that it is literally painful to watch. It has funny moments ( the sublime Rossy de Palma and Chus Lampreave are in it), but I think the tone of this movie is undeniably different from anything he did before. I don't think Almodovar would have made a film like this unless he went through something similar. And maybe compelled to work his way out of it by making a film? It takes a very long time to make a movie. Why put yourself through it? It's not a surefire box-office gambit.

It's a fool's game to say that a work of art can be reduced to autobiography, but think about this:: Paredes plays a writer of hugely popular romance novels under a pseudonym. Under her own name, she writes a harsh review of her own books.

By the end of The Flower of My Secret, Paredes is a new woman. After The Flower of My Secret, Pedro Almodovar made Live Flesh, All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education and Volver. And yes, they are very different from all the films that came before. And so is Pedro.

Disclosure: I was the US publicist on The Flower of My Secret, All About My Mother and Talk to Her. I loved working on the films, but my actual encounters with Almodovar were all too brief, and of course the conjectures and opinions above are all my own.