Chaos, love triangles and hospitals aplenty: the best of Pedro Almodóvar

From campy melodramas to moody noir, explore the Spanish director's work in this SBS On Demand film collection.

L-R: Parallel Mothers, Live Flesh, Law of Desire, What Have I Done To Deserve This? Credit: SBS On Demand

Arguably Spain’s best-known film director, Pedro Almodóvar has had a storied career, producing everything from campy melodramas to comedies, sci-fi thrillers, and moody noir. No matter the genre, his themes are thought-provoking, often delving into the treatment of women, queer, and trans people at the hands of Catholic Spanish society, and tragic extremes of the human experience such as grief and sexual abuse. And while his themes can be heavy, his cinematography is dazzling, with colourful costuming and funky sets that make his films a treat for the eyes. Whether you’ve heard his name and are just curious, or you’re an aficionado looking to re-watch his classics, SBS On Demand’s

Focus On Pedro Almodóvar collection

offers many of Almodovar’s biggest hits from the ‘80s to present: here are some titles to start with.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

This kooky 1988 film slaps together elements of melodrama, black comedy, rom-com, and film noir as it takes you on a trippy journey in the best way possible. TV voice-over actress Pepa (Carmen Maura) is dumped by her boyfriend Iván (Fernando Guillén), and in a deliriously depressed state, she finds herself helping out a friend whose ex has turned out to be a terrorist, and is about to hijack a plane — which coincidentally, Iván and other acquaintances are on. True to its name, it’s a character study of several women on the precipice of psychological catastrophe, presented in a magnetically over-the-top, whiplash-inducing plot. Its unrestrained wackiness worked a charm with audiences, too: it quickly became the most successful Spanish movie of all time at the box office upon its release.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Comedy drama •
1988

Talk To Her

Widely regarded as one of Almodóvar’s finest films, 2002’s Talk To Her contemplates all manner of human connection, from longing and friendship to grief and loneliness. Nurse Benigno (Javier Cámara) obsesses over Alicia (Leonor Watling), a dancer who practises ballet in a window across from his apartment – and when she ends up comatose after a traffic accident, Benigno is by chance assigned to care for her, where he talks to her, developing an oddly one-sided relationship. He then meets Marco (Darío Grandinetti), a journalist who is watching over his lover Lydia, also in a coma, and the two bond over their predicament, before their relationships with the comatose women take vastly different (and in one case, unsettling) paths.

While the plot may have a characteristic Almodóvar outlandishness, Talk To Her is a quieter, more understated part of his canon, as it contemplates the two male leads’ at-times disturbing obsession with comatose women in a tender, empathetic way that’s truly mesmerising.

Talk To Her is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

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Talk to Her

drama •
romance •
2002

Broken Embraces

Released in 2009, Broken Embraces reflects a more mature Almodóvar in the director’s seat, taking his penchant for colour and melodrama, and elevating it to create a film that's emotionally wrenching but also wryly funny. When he’s forced to look after his agent’s son after an accidental overdose, blind writer Mateo (Lluís Homar) experiences flashbacks to his life before blindness. These recount a story of a strange love triangle where Mateo competed for the affections of beautiful wannabe actress Lena (Penélope Cruz). The other corner of that triangle is Ernesto (José Luis Gómez), Mateo’s rich film financier who was controlling and aggressive, causing the pair to elope, before tragedy strikes. Almodóvar’s characteristically bright cinematography and vivid sets (pushed even further by filming locations on the summery island of Lanzarote) are a sharp contrast to the melancholy of Mateo’s flashbacks. In the hands of a lesser director, such a twisting plot with pointed stylistic contradictions might be a mess, but here, it’s a whirlwind experience of love, conflict, and loss.

Broken Embraces is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

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Broken Embraces

drama •
thriller •
2009

Live Flesh

This 1997 film pushes boundaries, even considering Almodóvar’s somewhat taboo tendencies. An adaptation of the Ruth Rendell novel by the same name, it focuses on Victor (Liberto Rabal), the son of a prostitute, born on a Madrid city bus during the final years of Franco’s rule. 20 years later, he’s also living on the margins, as he goes to have sex with a heroin addict he met at a nightclub. In a classic Almodóvarian strange turn of events, the pair are busted by police and Victor ends up in a romantic relationship with one of the officer’s girlfriends – but it’s a tense situation as abusive cop Sancho (José Sancho) is out for revenge. A tense thriller that also investigates the psychology of abusive relationships and broken members of society, Live Flesh is one of Almodóvar’s darker films. It retains the funky, eye-catching cinematography he’s known for, but with less of the comical absurdity you’d find in his other works, but it’ll still have you on the edge of your seat.

Live Flesh is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

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Live Flesh

drama •
1997

Parallel Mothers

Almodóvar’s latest feature film returns to a hospital setting, with a plot of two trauma-bonded patients that almost feels like it could be an extension of Talk To Me (in the best way possible). Two women, Janis (Penélope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit) are both accidentally pregnant, and end up sharing a hospital room as they wait to give birth. The two bond, and later discover their babies had been swapped accidentally. When one of them loses her child, their friendship takes a sudden turn towards something more intimate. In typical Almodóvar style, it’s an emotionally intense examination of motherhood, trauma, and chance encounters (not to mention a perfectly woven-in subplot about memories of Spain’s civil war). Yet his style, with bold colour and a touch of melodrama, adds a slightly euphoric strain to Parallel Mothers — the end result is a perfect balance between light and dark; a film that can both weigh on your mind yet serve as inspiration for how to relate to others and the world.

Parallel Mothers will be streaming at SBS On Demand from 17 July to 16 August, 2024.

What Have I Done To Deserve This?

This early entry in Almodóvar’s filmography (and arguably his first film to start hitting it big outside Spain) has a delightfully chaotic energy to it — and while it’s a black comedy, not a thriller, its madcap pace feels somehow exhilarating. Presented as a portrait of a working class family’s life, it centres on Gloria (Carmen Maura), a cleaner whose taxi driver husband is reigniting a romance with a famed German singer, while he also tries to profit from making a forged Hitler diary. Then there’s her two sons: a sexually active 12-year-old, and a 14-year-old who dreams of farming heroin — not to mention Gloria’s soft drink-slurping mother-in-law hanging around the family’s tiny apartment. Devilishly dark, What Have I Done To Deserve This? is the kind of film that gets its audience excited to see how the whole house of cards will come tumbling down.

What Have I Done To Deserve This? is now streaming at SBS On Demand.

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What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Comedy drama •
1984

Law of Desire

Perhaps the most queer film in Almodóvar’s filmography is this part-comedy, part-thriller. Porn director Pablo (Eusebio Poncela) ditches boyfriend Juan, who exiles himself in a lighthouse, before reaching back out to Pablo through letters. But by this point, new flame Antonio (Antonio Banderas) is on the scene. After he has his first gay experience with Pablo, he becomes an obsessive, controlling partner, losing control, going after Juan, and seducing Antonio’s transgender sister. The film was astonishingly forward in its depictions of queer life considering its 1987 release. While Law of Desire definitely upset some conservative sections of the public, Almodóvar managed to get away with surprisingly frank depictions of sexuality, perhaps because he dialled up his melodramatic style even more than normal. The result is a film that walks a line of being serious and wacky, and thoroughly compelling.

Law of Desire is now streaming at SBS On Demand.