review of an intimate portrait of Almodóvar

Among the authors of modern cinema, perhaps no one knows better than Pedro Almodovar how to tell about his land and his roots. His films taste of Spain like Spain tastes of Almodovar; the two are each other’s sons because director Pedro was born with the birth of a new Spain, free from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The fall of censorship allows this young artist, raised first by the Salesians and then by the Madrid Movida, to tell his story through a cinema of excess and transgression, in dramas that taste of tragicomia and photonovel. No director can talk about la Spaniard’s blood better than Almodovar; no movie speaks of Almodovar better than pain and glory.

Almodóvar talks in his alter ego about Salvador Mallo.

This 2019 film, which we talked about here shortly before its release, in addition to being the latest gem of his filmography, is arguably also his latest work. Look pain and glory it’s like breaking into his house and flipping through his photo albums without permission; Almodovar allows his audience to voyeurize their own memories. And although he admitted that there was fiction in this film of his truth, he also guaranteed that in essence there was only his being. authentic

. The fame he speaks of is true, but above all, his pains, physical and mental, including migraines, countless back surgeries, depression, are authentic.

Almodovar uses a kind alter ego, here called Salvador Mallo and played by his fetish Antonio Banderas, to paint a portrait of his life in the cathartic process of mapping – and healing – his scars, sometimes still bleeding. El Salvador is director in crisis, weakened by constant physical ailments, forcing him to an oppressive and depressing period of rest. In the quiet of his house-museum (it’s Almodóvar’s real home, completely rebuilt on set!), filled with sought-after works of art but devoid of human warmth, he takes time to reflect on what it was like, from childhood to his relationship with his mother, from the first homosexual impulses to a career in film and theater.

Pain and Glory: The Responsibility to Remember

In a continuous game of memories and jumps in time, in Salvador’s already tried head there are memories to come to terms with, to be used with care in order to piece together all the pieces of his life’s complex puzzle. We need to free ourselves from the painful death of the mother, not yet overcome, played by a magnificent woman. Penelope Cruz first, and then by Juliette Serrano and her discontent with her son’s homosexuality. We have unfinished accounts to collect, from fellow drug addict Alberto to Federico’s first love. But first of all, you need to find the strength in yourself to return to talking about cinema, art, healing.

pain and glory this is the story of an artist blocked by his psychosomatism who cannot find inspiration: metaphor for the creative process which gets stuck if it doesn’t find a turning point. But Salvador, like Almodovar, finds this turning point, and the machine starts working again: the discovery of a watercolor portrait dating back to his childhood is enough to save him. Here is the glory after so much suffering: come to terms with your past Imperfect to ensure the future, yes, imperfect, but better.

Almodovar’s cinema is Spain and a woman

But it is also the story of his ambivalent relationship with his beloved and feared family, the world’s first danger to a homosexual boy. Rural and fanatical Spain. In this film, all his love for his mother, a strong and proud woman, but still a daughter of her time, unable to fully accept the diversity of her own son. However, Almodovar does not tolerate offense, and indeed in all his films celebrate every mother and every womanfor him, the real pillars of the society from which he grew up, with their courage and stories in the flow, just like in a movie scene.

The steady burden of being in Pain and Glory

Presented Cannes on the occasion of its 72nd edition, pain and glory he received important awards and nominations, from the male award for the interpretation of Antonio Banderas to the Oscar race. And such success is not surprising: formally perfect, this is a sensitive and sincere film that tells about complexity of life With ease what distinguishes the best Almodovar. As in many of his other films, All about my mother To Volverthe director does not shy away from important and naturally tedious topics: but the way he gives it rhythm and energy manages to unbelievably take any weight off it.

If each of his films seems like a lesson in how to meet the pain of life with glory, well, pain and glory seems even more so.