A former porn star/junkie, kidnapped and bound to the bedpost, falls hard for her captor. A daughter marries her mother’s old flame, who gets shot dead soon after; a drag-queen judge presides over the case. A scorned woman plots to take out her cheating lover with gazpacho and barbiturates. A boy born on a bus grows up to accidentally shoot and paralyze a policeman who then marries the boy on the bus’ object of affection who then falls for … oh forget it. You can’t begin to explain the bewildering, gorgeous operatics of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s universe, where chance meets destiny and words take a way backseat to the communicative powers of hot, howling sex. That universe has a revolving door, too, through which many of the same actors come in and out — Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem. But, boy oh boy, it’s the girls you’ll be talking about. Only one of Almodóvar’s films devotes a title to the precarious mental state of she — Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown — but really, all his fabulously mouthy women — played by Victoria Abril, Carmen Maura, Marisa Paredes — are one sangria shy of total meltdown. And that’s just the way we like ’em.
In conjunction with the Dobie’s run of Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Talk to Her, the Dobie presents the monthlong series, “Pronounced äl-mðo-DðO-vär,” Fridays & Saturdays at midnight.
Feb. 7-8: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Feb. 14-15: Live Flesh (1997)
Feb. 21-22: Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)
Feb. 28-March 1: High Heels (1991)
This article appears in February 7 • 2003.
