Pedro Almodóvar: a woman’s director?

I haven’t bothered to go to the cinema to see a Pedro Almodóvar film for two decades: Kika was the final straw. A year or so ago, I downloaded a bunch of them to see if either Pedro or I had changed. We hadn’t.

But the presence of Antonio Banderas in Almodóvar’s latest cinematic offering encouraged me to trot along to the Cines Ideal in Madrid to take in The Skin I Live In on the big screen.

As we all know, Almodóvar is celebrated for creating dramatic subversions of popular culture and accepted norms. Almodóvar acknowledges and celebrates that grey area between masculine strength and female sensitivity, is the line usually trotted out. He subverts Spanish stereotypes of machismo by presenting strong, independent women who take on and improve on male roles. His films are odes to femininity, the maternal instinct, and the thirst for drama. In short, like so many gay men he is somehow closer to women’s sensitivities, he understands them, he is closer to them. And when it comes to transsexuals, well, who ya gonna call?

Almodóvar breaks clichés about transsexuals. In his movies, they are not reduced simply to men who believe themselves to be female and who wish to, or do, live full-time as women as some would have us believe. Oh no, instead they choose to mainly express the feminine part of themselves, but still live outside of common sex and gender dichotomies.

For example, in The Law of Desire, Tina, played by a woman (Carmen Maura), is a post-operated transsexual who has had a daughter with a lesbian. She nevertheless used to be in love with her father and still has affairs with men. In the same movie, the transsexual actress Bibi Andersen plays a lesbian character who is a real woman. Letal, in High Heels, is a well-known drag queen who performs imitations of Becky, a famous singer whose daughter he wants to seduce. During the day, he becomes either Hugo or the hyper-masculine Judge Domínguez. Both of these transsexuals differ from Agrado, a half-operated transsexual, played by transsexual Antonia San Juan playing a genuine woman in All About My Mother. Finally, if a real transsexual playing a post-operated transsexual appears at some points in Bad Education, the story mainly focuses on Ángel, a straight actor whose ambition leads him into sleeping with a gay director and to play a transsexual in order to succeed in cinema. So, no stereotypes or clichés there, right?

In The Skin I Live In, Almodóvar comes up with a new twist on transsexuality, which I won’t go into here for fear of being accused of a plot spoiler.

But back to the women. The real ones. Looking over his illegally downloaded films I came across one after another dumb, neurotic, fucked-up, emotionally backward, sexually rapacious, or sexually confused clichéd female character. Of course Almodóvar himself is the main source of the myth that he is a woman’s director: he rarely misses an opportunity to bring up his childhood in rural Spain, surrounded by capable, tough, straight-talking women.

“La Mancha at the time was a very, very conservative part of the country to live in. Very chauvinistic, as well, very male-dominated in its attitudes. But men never realised that it was actually the women who were running the household; they were the ones in charge. I think that came through in the films that I made because it was part of my own natural makeup. I was surrounded by all these women and they were the ones that really made me,” said Pedro in a recent interview for website littlewhitelies.com.

So how come he doesn’t ever include any of these intelligent, developed, clear-minded, or substantial women in his films?

The widely accepted myth that Pedro is the man who loves women simply doesn't bear scrutiny. Approach his films without the background chatter and the idea is clearly preposterous.

What’s really puzzling is why this big lie about Almodóvar is so endlessly peddled by so many people in the media, and why so many people have chosen to swallow it.

 

Comments

[Publicado por: ANN-MARIE]

Thank you for this article. I can not see where these strong women are either. I went to see The Skin I live In and thought everything looked amazing and the music was fantastic but I left the cinema laughing, much to the annoyance of everyone else.

[Publicado por: DelBarça]

A Almodovar, haz más cine y menos gilipolleces. Tú puedes.

[Publicado por: Big Gay Al]

"So how come he doesn’t ever include any of these intelligent, developed, clear-minded, or substantial women in his films?"
Because he is very GAY. His movies are GAY. And gays aren't interested in the intelligence, degree of development, clear-mindedness, or the substance of women. They are interested in women as moms and as queens only.

[Publicado por: I beg you pardon?]

English spoken here! You Spaniards are soooo unpolite!!!! FY

[Publicado por: Joshua Evangelista]

Como te han mencionado antes, los papeles de mujeres fuertes, inteligentes y asertivas en la filmografia de Pedro son varios, el mas emblematico para mi es el de Pepa Martinez. en Mujeres; if the girls and transexual in his movies are troubled is because in real life people have problems, and that is not cliche. Is a statement.

[Publicado por: SFH]

I find it upsetting that you choose to download films illegally and then boast about it.
That is not the only confusing or upsetting part of your note. You do reveal the plot of the film and I don't get the point about Antonia San Juan. I think you must be mixing her up with Bibiana Fernández.
If you missed out the many examples of female strength and solidarity you really need to watch those films again, this time properly and legally, please.
Thank you

[Publicado por: Joaquín García Corella]

Una pelicula genial Pedro, como siempre derrochando creatividad y poder.
Tendrias que seguir "pariendo" tus obras son de una originalidad única en estos tiempos que vivimos, sabes bien cuanto hay dentro de ti, haznos el favor, sigue mostrandonos tu genialidad.

[Publicado por: Nando]

Yo la verdadd, que segui a Almodovar en sus inicios. También a su "prole" y fui aguantando poco a poco con el paso de los años. Ya hace tiempo que estoy cansado del divismo de su "prole" y de el mismo, parece que su vanidad no tiene limites. Pido perdón, pero esta gente hace mucho tiempo que dejó de interesarme, también se que hace tiempo que dejó de interesar. Cada cosa que hacen se convierte en un petardeo. En esto incluyo al Barden, que nos es hijo suyo, pero está con una ·hija" suya. Son todos unos petardos.

[Publicado por: Boca Chancla]

Señor Almodóvar devuélvame el dinero de las subvenciones que le han dado. Yo no quiero pagar sus películas y sus excesos con mi dinero. No veré su película y recomendaré que no la vean. Con mi dinero al cine cero.

[Publicado por: Carla]

Last week I watch on TV an Almodovar's film (Volver) where Penelope Cruz was playing that role of intelligent, developed, clear-minded, or substantial women you mention.

Carla
www.lasbolaschinas.com

[Publicado por: Carla]

Last week I watch on TV an Almodovar's film (Volver) where Penelope Cruz was playing that role of intelligent, developed, clear-minded, or substantial women you mention.

Carla
www.lasbolaschinas.com

[Publicado por: La mejor música del mundo]

Quiero invitarte a que visites mi blog:

http://www.pianistasdelmundo.blogspot.com

Está dedicado a los mejores pianistas de todos los tiempos, hay videos en directo y enlaces con su biografía.
Si te gusta agregala en tus favoritos,o hazte seguidor, iré incluyendo muchos más.

Muchas gracias por tu tiempo.