Pedro Almodóvar - The Man Who Subverted Tradition - Cinemathèque

Author: Pedro Almodóvar
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Pedro Almodóvar's new film (Talk to Her [Hable con ella], 2002) began filming during the final stages of the previous one (The Sea Inside). At the end of Talk to Her, a curtain appears inscribed with the dedication "To all the women in the world," a theatrical touch that immediately brings to mind the play performed by Humana, the friend of Manuela (a character in The Sea Inside). The opening scene of Talk to Her is a ballet by Pina Bausch: two women in a corridor repeatedly collide with a barrier on stage, as if trapped in a nightmare, unable to escape this blind movement. One of them forward, surrounded by chairs, while a man clears the path for her, preventing her from tripping. In The Sea Inside, the protagonist Manuela, after sacrificing herself and losing contact with everyone else, finally finds her own path, while Benigno remains in perpetual self-sacrifice. His sacrifice is not in vain but continues in another person: his friend Marco, who rents Benigno's apartment while he is imprisoned and later meets Alicia upon Benigno's death. Grief always remains for the living, reminding them to move forward. Almodóvar stands between his two protagonists: one turns away and disappears; the other is left behind, yet forever unknowing of their roots, even as a new love story unfolds in his mind by the time the film ends.