¿Qué He Hecho Yo Para Merecer Esto?

DECEMBER 15, 2008 PFS at

The Brecht Forum

Pedro Almodóvar FAQ Sheet

FILMS - PELÍCULAS:

Volver (2006)
Bad Edcuation - La mala educación (2004)
Talk To Her - Hable con ella (2002)
All About My Mother - Todo sobre mi madre (1999)
Live Flesh - Carne trémula (1997)
The Flower of my secret - La flor de mi secreto (1995)
Kika (1993)
High Heels - Tacones lejanos (1990)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!- Átame (1989)
Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Mujeres al borde de un
ataque de nervios (1987)
The Law of Desire- La ley del deseo (1986)
Matador (1985)
What Have I Done To Deserve This? - ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer
esto? (1984)
Dark Habits - Entre Tinieblas (1983)
Labyrinth of Passions - Laberinto de Pasiones (1982)
Pepi, Luci, Bom - Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980)

BIOGRAPHY
http://www.clubcultura.com/clubcine/clubcineastas/almodovar/esp/home.htm

Born in the 50's in Calzada de Calatrava, province of Ciudad Real, legal party
of Almagro and Archbishopric of Toledo. He migrated with his family to
Extremadura when he was eight. There he went to Elementary and High
School with the Salesians and Franciscans fathers. His bad religious education
just taught him to loose his faith in God. By that time he had begun
compulsively going to the movies in Caceres.

"Apart from the chair, the first time I went to a theater I also took a can of
coal with me to fight the cold during the projection. In time, the heat of that
makeshift hearth has become the paradigm of what movies meant to me
back then".

He moved to Madrid when he was sixteen. Alone, with neither family nor
money but with a very specific goal: to study and make movies. Franco had
just closed the National School of Cinema so, since it wasn't possible to learn
the language (the form) he decided he decides to study the basis, and starts
living. Despite the dictatorship, a rural teen found in the Madrid of the late
60's the city, the culture and the freedom.

"I got used to reality (I assumed it, as one assumes the illness of someone he
loves): Madrid is not just luxury and fun, cities have suburbs and pollution,
noise and misery, and their greatness resides in those imperfections
sometimes ".

In the late seventies he wrote comic scripts, contributing to underground

magazines like "Star", "Vibora" and "Vibraciones" with stories and opinions. In
1972 he begins the non-stop shooting of his first Super-8 shorts and takes
them from Madrid to Barcelona.

"I began succeeding as a Super-8 filmmaker but I also experienced the

rejection from the genuinely modern for the first time. Ever since those early
moments I start feeling isolated by the groups I belong by nature to".

At the same time, Pedro joins the prestige drama club Los Goliardos, where
he plays his first professional roles and meets Carmen Maura. Together with
McNamara he starts a parody punk-glam-rock band. He keeps writing stories
that are eventually published in compilation volumes ("El sueño de la razón").
This atmosphere sets the background for his first commercial feature film:
"Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón" (1980), a project originally
created by Pedro for a photo-novel entrusted by "El Vibora" magazine. Its
name was "General Erections".

"Having worked so with my Super-8, Carmen Maura and some other friends
from Los Goliardos decided I should take one step forward and make my first
film in 16mm".

In 1984 he shoots, with Tesauro producing it for the second time, his career's
most naturist and social film: "¿Que he hecho yo para merecer esto?" The
film enjoyed international spreading and great acceptance. "An absolutely
marvelous black comedy. Simply a small master piece", wrote "The New York
Times".