Pedro Almodóvar & The Auteur Theory
Are you one of those TV fans that are so vigorously attached to it that, will go beyond the entertainment aspect of it and dive deep towards the mise-en-scène, cinematography, sound, or even editing of it, then this article is for you. Being such a huge buff of motion pictures, It’s safe to say that I’m often glued to the TV during my leisure. Regardless of it being a french biopic or Korean drama a good plot and provocative character is all it takes me to watch. Besides the fact while pursuing my diploma in Mass Communication, I had the pleasure of taking a course on Script Writing & Videography, an additional reason for my love for this world. While analyzing different movies I came across this film writer called Pedro Almodovar.
Although he might be a new name to the most, he is very well-known among around Filmfare. As quoted by the SFG Pedro Almodóvar is many things: a Spaniard; a gay man; a connoisseur of the absurd; a prolific writer and director; and one of the few auteurs still standing. Pedro Almodóvar has been writing films for over 30 years, during which time he has worked for over 18 films. What sets him apart from the other writer is that he has a very distinct way of directing films. Most regard him as an auteur and that is because he is an artist with a distinguishing approach, his filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the “author” of the film, which hence displays the director’s unique style or thematic focus. Most films in recent days focus on superheroes, science fiction, or at least consists of protagonists and one antagonist. This one way Almodovar differs vastly is that most of his work is related to melodrama, irreverent humor, and complex narratives. His films often feature ordinary people with very simple plots but speak lots of words in terms of social issues, liberation, and more.
The man as an auteur:
Let’s look at one of his well-known films Broken Embraces in terms of auteur theory. If we look at all the cast in the film, most of them appeared in Pedro’s previous films. For instance: Volver where Penelup Cruz, Carmen, Lola Duenes, Carlos, Chus Lampreave they all appeared in both of Pedro’s films Volver and Broken Embraces. Penelup Cruz on the other hand appeared in 5 of Pedro’s films while Carmen Maura, Cecilia Roth, Rossy de Palma all been in 7 of Pedro’s films.
Chus Lampreave in top of his list as he acted in 8 of Pedro’s films. This pattern displays that Pedro has been always used the same set of characters for his film. Apart from the above-mentioned character his list also includes Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril. These stars reportedly mark a film as an Almodovar original.
Most of Pedro’s film depicts strong female characters:
A few of the film that I want to compare is Volver, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Bad Education. It appeared that each had fundamentally different stories, but shared many usual Almodovar touches. Another intriguing thing about his film is that most of the time he portrays a world where men are kinda invisible while women are loveless but strong and energetic. Such in all his movies Penelope Cruz plays a very important role, she depicts a character of strong personality. A few of his other works ‘Pepi, Lucii, Bom’ to ‘Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!’ the main characters are mainly women with no social restrictions. His films often provide details about past events is which is often delivered into the open to develop the audience’s understanding of the characters. A notable thing to note down from Volver and Broken Embraces is that Information about characters and the storyline is most of the time portrayed through mise en-scène instead of dialogue.
If we look at the cinematography and other technical elements, one major thing that distinguishes Almodovar from others is his practices of bright lights and colors. An easy way to notice this is through the title sequences of his films. Bright and almost colorful.
His film can often be distinguished for its outstanding mise-en-scene; its brave colors, shiny décoration, sometimes very unique camera angles, lovely originated costuming and his frequent use of LGBT themes while discovering the boundaries of sexuality and sexual chemistry between different categories of people, this can specifically be seen in films for instance including Pepi, Luci, Bom, Law of Desire (1987) and Bad Education (2004).

Example of distinctive camera angle and shiny decors in Pedro’s film. Photo: From The Movie Broken Embrace
One of his favorite subjects is sexuality and desire and family which is another very frequent theme all over his films where he talk about the different forms of family and how sometimes your relationships with friends could be more powerful and significant than the people you have the same blood with. Volver is an excellent example to understand how important family are to these films of Pedro’s.
With all the perplexing narrative and style what caught my eyes the most is how his films often have surprises all over. It is often difficult to predict what will happen next. One of the senses of doubt such as the feeling while evaluating his films is one of the things that makes him a distinctive and classic auteur.