Kelly WandWhat Have I Done to Deserve This?
October 17th 2006 06:55
Any attempt I might make to describe the plot of this film could only send you running from it. Any film where a mother can hand her son over to a paedophile dentist because he will be happier there isn’t going to be an enjoyable experience for most viewers. Or so you’d think.
This, however, is a film by Pedro Almodovar – a man who can make amorality and immorality fun for all the family. Even the Australian Office of Film Classification and Literature gave it an ‘M’ rating. This in spite of teenage drug dealing, shagging in the shower, murder, prostitution and the mistreatment of animals.
Carmen Maura plays Gloria, a Madrid housewife; a barely sane woman in an insane world. She has more than enough reason to cry “What have I done to deserve this?” Her Nazi cab driving husband wants only to return to the arms of the German woman he once chauffeured for. There is a plan afoot to forge Hitler’s diary but it requires the German woman abstain from committing suicide.
Gloria’s step mother merely wants to take her lizard back to the village she grew up in. The old lady lives on a strict diet of bottled water and fairy cakes that she keeps locked in a cupboard. To stave off diabetes, she sucks on chicken bones.
Gloria’s eldest son deals drugs to her prostitute neighbour and best friend. Her youngest son wants to learn how to be an artist and sleep with middle aged men. If none of this is bad enough, the chemists will no longer sell her No-Doz and she kills her husband.
A policeman squashes the lizard because it gives him the creeps only to be admonished for killing the only witness. At least the little girl who lives upstairs has psychic powers and can change the wallpaper.
What do you mean? You’re not sure you want to see this film? What’s wrong with you?
Don’t you recognise God like brilliance when you see it?
Oh, yeah. I know this is a bit of a long shot but, Carmen Maura… Will you marry me?
This, however, is a film by Pedro Almodovar – a man who can make amorality and immorality fun for all the family. Even the Australian Office of Film Classification and Literature gave it an ‘M’ rating. This in spite of teenage drug dealing, shagging in the shower, murder, prostitution and the mistreatment of animals.
Carmen Maura plays Gloria, a Madrid housewife; a barely sane woman in an insane world. She has more than enough reason to cry “What have I done to deserve this?” Her Nazi cab driving husband wants only to return to the arms of the German woman he once chauffeured for. There is a plan afoot to forge Hitler’s diary but it requires the German woman abstain from committing suicide.
Gloria’s step mother merely wants to take her lizard back to the village she grew up in. The old lady lives on a strict diet of bottled water and fairy cakes that she keeps locked in a cupboard. To stave off diabetes, she sucks on chicken bones.
Gloria’s eldest son deals drugs to her prostitute neighbour and best friend. Her youngest son wants to learn how to be an artist and sleep with middle aged men. If none of this is bad enough, the chemists will no longer sell her No-Doz and she kills her husband.
A policeman squashes the lizard because it gives him the creeps only to be admonished for killing the only witness. At least the little girl who lives upstairs has psychic powers and can change the wallpaper.
What do you mean? You’re not sure you want to see this film? What’s wrong with you?
Don’t you recognise God like brilliance when you see it?
Oh, yeah. I know this is a bit of a long shot but, Carmen Maura… Will you marry me?
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD