Almodovar Melodrama, Talk To Her, Live Flesh

Pedro Almodovar, in his recent films Talk to Her (Hable con Ella) (2002) and

Live Flesh (Carne Trйmula) (1997), has brought a thoroughly modern

interpretation to the genre of melodrama. These fresh illustrations of human

love, loneliness, frustration and individuality explore the complexity of human

interaction and interestingly, in Talk to Her, the interactions of the sentient

in relation to the insentient. "Nothing is simple," Alicia's ballet teacher

muses in Talk to Her, this statement accurately captures the essential Pedro

Almodovar style.

Both of the works selected for analysis in this essay are melodramas. The word

"melodrama" originated from the Greek root which directly translated means

"music drama". These films do incorporate music to add to the emotional impact

of certain scenes. Examples of this are: (a) in Live Flesh! When Victor is

watching TV in prison and sees Elena and David celebrating David's new career,

there is a close up of Victors face conveying his hurt accompanied by music

in-keeping with Victor's frame of mind. This increases the impact for the

viewers as the music is in contrast with Elena and David's joy. (b) in Talk to

Her the same tense, measured music is used during several scenes to denote their

importance in the narrative (when Benigno is about to speak to Alicia for the

first time, at the beginning of Lydia's last fight and when Marco is rushing to

the prison in an attempt to stop Benigno from taking drastic measures in

prison.)

The use of intertextuality in these films is also apparent. The newsreel of the

coverage of Victor's birth is significant. Victor's mother appears cold and

restrained compared to the intimacy the audience achieves in the scene prior as

we hear her cries from her labour pains. In Talk to Her the opening and closing

performance art pieces are an outlet for the emotional pain and turmoil which

Marco must grapple with. The silent movie too expresses more efficiently what is

occurring for Benigno on an emotional level than a depiction of the act of rape

could have.

Apart from the use of music, colour is integral to Almodovar's melodrama. In

Live Flesh! the walls of the apartments where the characters live, as well as

the school where Victor and Elena work, are warm and vibrant. The contrast

between dark green and deep reds and mustards provide a cosiness that puts the

viewer at their ease. The hospital in Talk to Her is painted sienna-mustard and

gray-green. Almodovar explains "I wanted to avoid convention. No coldness, no

bluish tones I told Javier (the director of photography for Talk to Her). It's

like their [the characters'] home. I didn't want the spectator to be faced with

an atmosphere of pain or illness. What I wanted to show was the everyday life of

some people who live there."

The use of colour is also instrumental in Pedro Almodovar's pop-art style. The

incorporation of classical Catholic-themed oil paintings in Elena's bedroom and

also the images Lydia's sister is arranging in the hotel before the bull fight

are examples of the pop-art movement. Almodovar was a significant influence on

the emerging culture of Spanish youth since the 1980's. Almodovar's exploration

of issues such as the drug culture in a non-traditional manner is evident in

both movies. The narrative does not directly comment on Elena's addiction to

freebase cocaine and gratuitously Sancho asks David if he has any cocaine

because "coke dries your tears". The film's ideology seems to condone David's

cannabis smoking as a healthier alternative to Sancho's drug of choice, namely,

alcohol. Marco can be seen to be smoking a joint while he looks on at Benigno,

Alicia and Alicia's ballet teacher on their balcony, in Talk to Her too.

This is significant in that it is an example of the liberalisation of Spanish

culture since the death of Franco and the emergence of Spain from that

dictatorial, repressive regime. The exploration of the body and sexuality are

recurring themes in Almodovar's work.

In Talk to Her examples of this are Alicia's nudity, the concept of the body as

a landscape and Benigno's dedication to Alicia, even though to the rest of the

world she is merely perceived as a body and no more. Even the words of Alicia's

father's secretary when she is on the phone to her friend "I've just taken an

elephant-sized dump" is expressive of the Spanish willingness to discuss the

functions of the body that may have repugnant connotations in other cultures.

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