Pedro Almodovar is a man of recurring themes and fixations representing a point of view purely, if not typically, Spanish. In Spanish they call it “fixed iconography” and it is easily seen in the theme of woman, beginning with his own mother in “All About My Mother”. Delightful protagonists like Carmen Maura and Penelope Cruz are all venerated and have won numerous prizes and nominations including Cruz’s 2007 Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The list is so long that they have coined the term “Almodovar Girls” where Marisa Paredes, Rossi de Palma, Victoria Abril, Bibiana Fernandez, Maria Barranco, Monica Forque, Chus Lampreave, and other muses rest in the film director’s own private Parnassus.
Apart from interesting and attractive 3-dimensional women, the city of Madrid is Almodavar’s second most obvious theme having given rise to the phrase, “New York has Woody Allen. Rome had Fellini and Madrid is synonymous with Pedro Almodovar.”
50plusabroad [http://www.50plusabroad.com], is a Madrid-based provider of educational travel in Europe and their edutainment theme week pays tribute to the director and the city of Madrid by offering onsite visits to “Almodovar’s Madrid” between Spanish classes. Mila Moreno, Program Director told us, “Madrid appears in 11 of Almodovar’s films so we offer a one-week intensive program in the city around the theme of Pedro Almodovar’s cinema which is prepared and researched by specialists in film. There are morning Spanish classes and preparation for the afternoon and evening activities with visits to the most emblematic Madrid locations from Pedro Almodovar’s films and to the director’s favourite haunts. We include 3 film viewings and an excursion to Campo de Criptana in La Mancha, Almodovar’s home province and location of the film “Volver”. The sites one gets to see are very different from the view one gets from a tourist bus.”
Some highlights from the theme week’s extensive program are:
Villa Rosa
Villa Rosa bar in the Plaza Santa Ana is the location of the most famous scene shot with Miguel Bosé in Almodovar’s 1991 film “High Heels”. Today the bar is a great place to have a tapa, listen to flamenco influenced pop music and enjoy the tiled murals depicting pastoral scenes from Andalucia on the façade. Indoors there are Mudejar-influenced architectural features to treat the eye too, along with the ears and the stomach.
Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes
On the ground floor of the prestigious cultural center, this restaurant/bar/terrace overlooking the Calle Alcalá is haughty 1920s and decked out in soaring pillars, statues and grandiose chandeliers. Popular with Madrid’s “artistic types” its restaurant was used in Almodovar’s 1993 critique of the media, “Kika”. Here is where Victoria Abril and Peter Coyote meet to discuss a script and is still a great place to people watch while you have a fixed-price luncheon or a drink and a tapa.
Museo del Jamón
Almodovar filmed the end of “Live Flesh” on Arenal Street, taking advantage of the street decorations. One of the shots focused on the “Museo del Jamón” bar, a Madrid chain specializing in Spanish ham. The director filmed pedestrians along with some extras he had hired for the occasion from inside a van, incognito, letting the camera roll for hours.
Segovia Aqueduct, Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Alcalá
When Almodovar uses tourist attractions in his films they are portrayed in a surreal light. In Matador (1985), the high-rising and potentially dangerous Segovia Aqueduct is the dark, brooding backdrop to a Madrileño couple’s obsessions. The night travelling scene over the Puerta de Alcalá was used as a background for the opening titles of “Live Flesh” and the Plaza Mayor is where Juan Echanove dances in solitude in one of the most delightful scenes from “The Flower of My Secret”. In the Plaza Mayor, the calamar bars on any of the plaza’s side entrances should not be missed. These bars serve “bocatas de calamares” (lightly fried squid-ring sandwiches on buns), with beer or a glass of apple cider for only a couple of euros.
