A smart comedy. A charming farce, perhaps. Frantic coincidences, black humour. Reading such definitions, it's possible that the name of Pedro Almodóvar is not the first to pop into your head. But this film is very much his. And it is arguably the first Almódovar film to gain international acceptance beyond festival audiences. It also brought the first big nominations: Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA, not to mention five Goya awards at home in Spain. While critics had discovered Almodóvar's earlier films on rebellion and strange lives and adventures through the emotions of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll after the long drought during the Franco years, non-faithful festival-goers would now discover for themselves this strange guy who elicits strong sensibilities and serious thought alongside his black humour.
This film is still full of bizarre characters, and doesn't deny the unbridled, liberated counterculture after the death of Franco, the movida madrileńát, yet the director's dramatic composition is also superb, and intelligent. It is also a deeply female film. In many ways, Almodóvar's later female characters lead back to here: the mother who oppresses her son, the unfaithful, jilted lover, the first women who the oppressed son becomes infatuated with, the survivor, the one in blue tights… And it is perhaps here where Almodóvar first shows that special kind of feminine empathy and solidarity which then becomes a regularly recurring theme of his films. And that's without even mentioning the secret child.
The film was a hit. So much so that a Broadway musical was made of it in 2010.

The screening takes place in cooperation with the Spanish Embassy in Budapest.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest