Eurozine's partner du on Pedro Almodovar's gaze

Pedro Almodóvar himself writes in “Location” on his intimate relationship to photography. As he explains, his sets are not only dominated by the film camera, but even more by his photo camera- as a source of relaxation and as mnemonic aid. “Just as proud young parents, try to ‘penetrate’ their little darlings with the camera as soon as they are born, I try to capture the developments and various stages of filmmaking.”. Photography becomes another process of desire: the desire to capture and appropriate the set through the lens.

The terms of desire pleasure and voyeurism are the concern of the literary critic Elisabeth Bronfen. Her article “The Law of Women” partly deals with Almodovars latest movie “Hable con ella”.
Bronfen constates that a fatal visual logic unfolds between Almodovars figures. In the beginning, two men are watching two women. Through their gaze, or so it appears, they are actually causing the womens’ accidents and subsequent comas. Both men see the women as pictures, as a result of which they fall into a limbo between life and death. “As living corpses they complement the men who can now watch and touch unhindered, without any demands or forms of reciprocity” Bronfen argues.

Lydia, a female bullfighter then dies, whilst Alicia, the dancer is ‘revived’ through Benigno’s touch, her nurse- paradoxically the same person who has caused her coma through his gaze.

The motif of the male gaze is however caricatured by Almodovar. and whereas the gaze paralyses the women, its representation is also marked by a profound sense of ambiguity.

To find out more about Almodovar’s work, his intertextual references to other films and genres, to think about the ways in which he deconstructs one-dimensional stereotypes and constructs new identities, look into Elisabeth Bronfen’s article.

Both articles and an english summary from the du September edition are now available online.

Eurozine ed.

Pedro Almodóvar
Location (en)
Pedro Almodóvar’s thoughts on photography, the differences between photos and pictures in motion, and his personal interest in photography.

Elisabeth Bronfen
Women’s Law (de)
Elisabeth Bronfen reflects on Pedro Almodovar’s theory of colours, muted women, and the desires of his characters.

Summary for du 9/2002 (en)