Tag: Pedro Almodovar

Rapid Response: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” put Pedro Almodovar on the map with its strong and wacky female lead.

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” could be the title to a number of female-fronted comedies both old and new. “Bridesmaids” and “30 Rock” come to mind, but then so do “My Man Godfrey” or “The Awful Truth,” to an extent.

That’s because unlike men, who are often simply extremely irritated by a comic foil in such movies, women tend to display an utmost level of poise and steadfast resolve about how they are going to change their life right before it implodes.

Or at least that’s how they act in screwball comedies. Maybe that’s seen as a bad thing, but leave it to Pedro Almodovar to overcome the stereotype. Ever since “Women” he’s been making female fronted movies with as much color and surreal charm as is on display here. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”

The Skin I Live In

Pedro Almodovar’s lush thriller stars Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya.

I guess you could classify “The Skin I Live In” as a surrealistic revenge sci-fi romance. Pedro Almodovar’s film is so lush, sexual, exotic and artful, as they always are, that it’s above genre or even emotional expectations. Rarely is a film this darkly sexually perverse simultaneously queasy and mesmerizing.

The plot in ways recalls “Vertigo,” although this Spanish art house classic hardly feels or looks like Hitchcock’s masterpiece. It’s the twisted story of the wealthy plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas). Robert decorates his house with priceless Renaissance nudes, each Madonna shimmering in her perfection. But his prize possession he watches from a hi-def surveillance camera placed in the next room.

There sits Vera (Elena Anaya), a goddess Robert has crafted for himself. As he watches, his instincts transcend voyeurism. He is captivated in awe at the deep secrets and memories she represents, for she seems not entirely a woman but an untouched being. Each day, Vera sits in isolation doing yoga and reading, and she seems only aware of her purpose for Robert.

It’s because he has literally created Vera using a synthetic skin stronger than a human’s. She resembles Robert’s dead wife, and her strength against cuts, stings or burns leaves her an untouched masterpiece. Most of all, Vera radiates. Continue reading “The Skin I Live In”