Pedro Almodóvar, one of the most celebrated feminist filmmakers in modern cinema, spoke to Brut about the strong women who raised him. This is the acclaimed Spanish filmmaker's story.
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00:00One, two, three, four!
00:03I asked who it was when he left.
00:05They said, Pedro Almodóvar has made one film,
00:08but he won't make any more.
00:10HEROÏNES
00:29Thinking about these women from my childhood,
00:33for me, they were real heroines.
00:36They were the influence of my mother.
00:40I've always been surrounded by women
00:46who have really educated me.
00:48They were very strong women.
00:54Why do you want me to go to a seminar?
00:56Because there's no other way to study for the poor.
01:06HEROÏNES
01:18Sometimes, when I think about my youth,
01:21about the 1980s,
01:23I'd like to relive
01:27the same excitement I had during those years.
01:32HEROÏNES
01:38Sometimes, even working and living under a dictatorship,
01:44what is very important is that you give yourself that kind of freedom.
01:48You can express it, for example, if you write, if you paint,
01:54if you make something by your own.
01:57HEROÏNES
02:04At the end of the 1970s, in Madrid,
02:06you were singing with javelins, barresillas, heels and needles.
02:11You were singing pop music.
02:13There was a bit of a sulphurous side, a bit provocative,
02:17for the good Madrid society.
02:20But he didn't go to the Ritz. He went to the Rocola.
02:23Of course, but still.
02:25Did you see him? Did you hear him sing at the time?
02:28How was he?
02:29He was great.
02:30He was great?
02:32Like everything else.
02:33He sang like a shoe, but it didn't matter.
02:37He sang like a shoe?
02:38Yes.
02:39Very bad?
02:40Not very good.
02:41Really?
02:42No, but it didn't matter.
02:44Why?
02:44Because he wasn't there to give a concert.
02:49What was he there for?
02:51He was there to tell, to dress, to express himself,
02:54to say, to do, to say, but that's it.
02:58No, I never acted seriously.
03:04And the audience that came to see me
03:07didn't come to see a singer.
03:10So it was something, I would say, distracting.
03:14And it was a very good experience.
03:17But I never took myself seriously as a singer.
03:24In the Franconian period, I couldn't have made any films.
03:30And obviously, for the nostalgic people of this system,
03:34I am a reincarnation of the devil.
03:37We met there in the 80s.
03:40And he came with a red briefcase.
03:43He sat in the group, there were some who knew him.
03:47It was very funny, not really a film.
03:50In the group, there were some who knew him.
03:53It was very funny, I don't remember what he said,
03:55but I remember laughing with him.
03:57He was very fast, very ingenious.
03:59And when he left, he looked at me and said,
04:01you have a very romantic face,
04:03and you should make a film at some point.
04:06And well, I asked who he was when he left.
04:08They told me, his name is Pedro Almodóvar,
04:10he has made a film, but he won't make any more films.
04:12THE FEMININE SOUL
04:17I don't understand why the rest of the male directors and writers
04:23have that inability to enter the feminine soul.
04:28Because women are not so difficult to understand.
04:31In fact, you are not difficult at all to understand.
04:35That is, women show themselves more than men.
04:40Men are much more hermetic.
04:42I think it is a defect of men
04:45who do not know how to write about women.
04:48I mean, over time, I have become an exception.
05:01I owe him a lot because, therefore,
05:05it has not only been a cinematographic learning,
05:08but really a life learning.
05:11What has been happening to him for many years.
05:41I am very happy and proud to be a friend
05:44and to be able to work with him. I really love him.
06:05I have a question about the film.
06:09I am very ashamed.
06:11I have to say that I suppose that 90% of the Spaniards
06:15are absolutely against the support,
06:21the help and support of Mr. Bush in that war.
06:24And for us, the Spaniards, and I mean the Americans,
06:29it is one of the most blatantly anti-democratic acts
06:34that I remember since democracy existed in Spain.
06:38It is one of the most blatantly anti-democratic acts
06:41that I remember since democracy existed in Spain.
07:08Beyond if you belong to the LGTB that I am or not is it was an injustice and we
07:37they tell can be not tell the story are really our real heroes that will save
07:52many lives