Dialnet-TheShortcomingsOfSimulacra-4218263

8/21/2019 Dialnet-TheShortcomingsOfSimulacra-4218263

1/9

Oceánide 5 2013

URL:http://oceanide.netne.net/articulos/art5-4.php

Fecha de recepción: 27 diciembre 2012Fecha de aceptación: 11 enero 2013Fecha de publicación: 25 enero 2013

URL:http://oceanide.netne.net/articulos/art5-4.phpOceánide número 5, ISSN 1989-6328

The Shortcomings of Simulacra:Fragments of the Past in Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces

Marcela T. GARCÉS

(Siena College, New York, United States)

RESUMEN:

La obra de Pedro Almodóvar abarca una colección de temas y referencias a sus propias películas, al mismo tiempo que hace

referencias a varios otros directores conocidos. Los abrazos rotos (2009) reproduce varias escenas de Mujeres al borde de un

ataque de nervios. No obstante, las referencias a ésta en Los abrazos rotos nos dejan con una sensación de desencanto. Las

referencias crean una fragmentación del pasado y en última instancia no cumplen con su meta original. La relación entre estas

dos películas demuestra las debilidades inherentes en la reconstrucción de lmes dentro de otros lmes, lo cual se conecta con

la idea de Baudrillard que el cine está constantemente cometiendo plagio a la hora de rehacerse.

Palabras clave: Almodóvar, nostalgia, Baudrillard, ashback, Los abrazos rotos

ABSTRACT:

Pedro Almodóvar’s oeuvre encompasses a collection of themes and references to his own back catalogue, all the while referencing

many other well-known directors. Broken Embraces (2009) refers to and re-enacts scenes from Women on the Verge of a Nervous

Breakdown (1988). Yet the references to the latter in Broken Embraces fail to enchant, instead creating a fragmentation of the

past and ultimately shifting from a breakdown to being simply broken. The relationship between these lms demonstrates the

foibles inherent in reconstructing lms within lms, which relates to Baudrillard’s recognition that cinema is constantly plagiarizing,

recopying and remaking itself.

Keywords: Almodóvar, nostalgia, Baudrillard, ashback, Los abrazos rotos


2/9

Oceánide 5 2013


Spanish lm director Pedro Almodóvar’soeuvre encompasses a web of interlacedthemes and references to his own lmsand those of the many directors headmires. Well-versed spectators observe,and even delight in, these numerousconnections that multiply with each highly

anticipated release. Nowhere is this moreapparent than in Los abrazos rotos/BrokenEmbraces (Almodóvar, 2009). The latterovertly refers to and re-enacts scenes fromAlmodóvar’s 1988 international commercialbreakthrough and viewer favorite, Mujeresal borde de un ataque de nervios. The lmreappears under the auspices of a newtitle, Chicas y maletas, which becomes alm within the lm. Additionally, a shortlm entitled La consejala antropófaga /TheCannabalistic Councillor included in thespecial feature section on the DVD clearlyreferences Mujeres.

For Almodóvar, this technique is nothingnew, for many of his latest lms returnto past work. Specically, Volver (2006)revisits ¿Qué he hecho yo para mereceresto? (1984) and La mala educación(2004) references Ley de deseo (1987).This nostalgia for his back catalog relatesto the notion that “[…] cinema is fascinatedby itself as a lost object as much as it(and we) are fascinated by the real as alost referent” (Baudrillard, 2006: 47). Losabrazos rotos reveals a fascination with

Mujeres as a kind of lost, nostalgic object,harking back to one of his most successfullms but also to a lost time: Almodóvar’syounger days. Mujeres thus becomes thelost object within the remakes of Chicasy maletas and La consejala antropófaga.Nostalgia and ashbacks to the pasttherefore serve as an essential frameworkfor the lm Los abrazos rotos.

Ernesto Acevedo Muñoz has indicatedthat many of Almodóvar’s recent worksmake “[…] the outrageous believable whilereaching the point where art imitates,

corrects and indeed improves on reality”(Acevedo Muñoz, 2008: 289). To be sure,there are some compelling allusionsto Almodóvar’s past work in Chicas ymaletas and La consejala antropófaga.Unfortunately, the references to Mujeres inLos abrazos rotos mostly fail to enchant,instead creating an unsatisfactorysimulacrum, a fragmentation of the pastthat ultimately shifts from a breakdown tobeing simply broken. I contend that thisfailure stems from a number of aspects,including a lack of plot complexity andeven poorly executed technical aspects in

the lm within the lm. Employing JeanBaudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation andthe work of some of the leading scholars

of Almodóvar’s work (Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz, Marvin D’Lugo, Marsha Kinder, andPaul Julian Smith) will demonstrate howthis occurs.

Los abrazos rotos narrates the story of ablind lm director Harry Caine, played by

Lluís Homar. This name is a pseudonym, ashe was formerly known as Mateo Blanco.He chose to leave this name in the pastas it was tied to the tragic accident thatleft him blind. We slowly learn the story ofhis former life, which includes a numberof Almodovarean twists. In the present,Harry’s agent Judit (Blanca Portillo) andher son Diego (Tamar Novas) serve as hismain caretakers, but their relationship tohim turns out to be more complicated thanit seems. When Harry learns of the deathof a wealthy man named Ernesto Martel(José Luis Gómez), he is thrust into hispast, which he begins to recount to Diego.The lm ashes back to the early 1990swhen Ernesto was in his prime, making afortune. Aware of his wealth and in needof money to nance her father’s medicalexpenses, his secretary, Magdalena(“Lena”), played by Penélope Cruz,becomes his mistress. Ernesto is abusivetowards her psychologically and physically,and Lena is trapped in the cycle of abuseuntil she meets Mateo Blanco.

Thanks to Mateo, Lena is able to realize

her dream of being an actress when sheis given a starring role in his lm, Chicasy maletas. Mateo is Lena’s savior of sorts,and they become romantically involved.In order to break up their union, Ernestosends his eccentric son Ernesto, Jr. (RubénOchandiano) to spy on the couple and lmtheir encounters under the pretense thathe is creating a “making of” for Mateo’slm. The senior Ernesto has a lip-reader(Lola Dueñas) interpret what they say, andrealizes that Lena is in love with Mateo.As is typical of a jealous lover, Ernestotries to manipulate Lena through other

channels. While Mateo and Lena are awayon vacation, Ernesto purposefully ruinsChicas y maletas and releases the lm inan act of revenge. Shortly after that, Lenaand Mateo are in a terrible car crash thatleaves her dead and him blind. It is notuntil 2008 that Mateo (now Harry) begins topiece together the lm and also recover hispast. The process of recreation leads Harry,and also Almodóvar, to explore the past.

Chicas y maletas (and subsequently Laconcejala antropófaga), two layers of theRussian doll within Los abrazos rotos,

exemplify the implications of the simulacrathat occur in the 2009 lm. Explainingthe idea of simulacra, Baudrillard posits:


3/9

Oceánide 5 2013


“it is no longer a question of imitation,nor duplication, nor even parody. It isa question of substituting the signs ofthe real for the real, that is to say of anoperation of deterring every real processvia its operational double, a programmatic,metastable, perfectly descriptive machine

that offers all the signs of the realand short-circuits all its vicissitudes”(Baudrillard, 2006: 2). If Mujeres canbe taken as “the real,” then Los abrazosrotos is a reductive collection of signs ofthe real, a substitution that malfunctionsin the end since it short-circuits therichness of the original lm. With Losabrazos rotos, Almodóvar moves beyondimitation, duplication and parody to an ill-conceived potpourri of his previous work.

Thus, in continuing with the idea thatMujeres represents the real, “when thereal is no longer what it was, nostalgiaassumes its full meaning” (Baudrillard,2006: 6). It is useful to think about thedenition of nostalgia here in order tounderstand its full impact in the Losabrazos rotos. Svetlana Boym interprets itas follows: “nostalgia (from nostos—returnhome, and algia—longing) is a longing fora home that no longer exists or has neverexisted. Nostalgia is a sentiment of loss anddisplacement, but it is also a romance withone’s own fantasy” (Boym, 2001: xiii). Thecharacters in most of Almodóvar’s lms

evince feelings of nostalgia, especially inhis melodramas that rely on songs suchas Bola de Nieve’s “Déjame recorder.” Hislms are heavily tinged with memories androutinely make use of ashbacks to denotechanges in time and returns to the past.It is relevant to note that, according toSusan Hayward, ashbacks (which occurrepeatedly throughout Los abrazos rotos)often occur in lm noir and psychologicalmelodrama, and both of these genres “[…]start from a similar positioning in relation tothe representation of the past. The past isseen as an object of nostalgia, therefore of

desire or as an object of despair” (Hayward,2006: 157). Los abrazos rotos adheres tothis as it also combines aspects of lm noirand psychological melodrama, specicallywith the love triangles it develops aroundPenélope Cruz’s character Lena. Her tragiclove affairs and her subsequent deathrender her an object of nostalgia for herformer lover Harry.

There is another, deeper layer of nostalgiapresent in the lm. For Almodóvar, the1988 lm Mujeres becomes the objectof nostalgia in Los abrazos rotos. Marvin

D’Lugo asserts that nostalgia is a recurringtheme in Almodóvar’s work, stating that “Bad Education might be appropriately

described as the dramatization of the snareof nostalgia, a theme that Almodóvar hasinsinuated into nearly all of his lms sinceTie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)” (D’Lugo,2009: 366). It is compelling that D’Lugouses the term “snare” to describe the roleof nostalgia in Bad Education, because it

seems that Almodóvar becomes trappedand even conned by the nostalgia of thepast by weaving the storyline of Chicasy maletas into Los abrazos rotos. D’Lugoconcludes that Bad Education exempliespostnostalgia, a concept developed byFredric Jameson that “[…] suggests amovement beyond readers’ and spectators’sentimental ensnarement in memories”(D’Lugo, 2009: 357). Interestingly, ifAlmodóvar triumphs or moves beyondnostalgia in Bad Education, he reliesheavily on it in Los abrazos rotos, whichis part of the reason the lm breaks down,and its fragmentation leaves the audiencesomething to be desired.

As in Bad Education, Los abrazos rotosaddresses the process of lmmaking in anumber of ways. Paul Julian Smith pointsout that the lm “turns around everylmmaker’s nightmare: the disastrouspremiere of a lm that has been stolenfrom its creator and re-cut by the producer”(Smith, 2009: np). The fact that thediegesis in Los abrazos rotos centers on alm that was stolen from its creator and re-

cut by the producer is a compelling subtext.Almodóvar effectively borrowed his ownlm, Mujeres, and re-cut it with a differentname, Chicas y maletas. We are drawninto the craft of lmmaking as the directorHarry Caine within Los abrazos rotos nally gets to piece the lm back together,fourteen years after it was rst lmed.

The connection between the story linewithin the lm and the outside links to otherlms adds a provocative layer to the ideaof authorship. If the director Harry Cainein Los abrazos rotos may be equated with

Almodóvar, it is intriguing that his agent,Judit, reminds him how he promised wouldnever make “remakes, secuelas, ni biopics.”While Los abrazos rotos is not technicallyany of these things, it repeatedly invokes aresemblance toMujeres through the remakeof the latter in Chicas y maletas. Thisprocess of neoguration, which Baudrillarddenes as “an invocation of resemblance,but at the same time the agrant proofof the disappearance of objects in theirvery representation: [the] hyperreal ”demonstrates thatLos abrazos rotos invokesa resemblance to Mujeres (Baudrillard,

2006: 45). Yet, this very resemblance alsoproves that Mujeres effectively disappearsby reappearing, thus becoming hyperreal.


4/9

Oceánide 5 2013


Almodóvar is unceasing in his invocationsof resemblance.

The Spanish director often pays homageto the art of lmmaking, both by includingmany references from other lms anddirectors but also to his own creative

process. This may be referred to as a “self-reexive focus on lm-making” (AcevedoMuñoz, 2008: 100). This self-reexive focuswithin his lms is something that Almodóvarreturns to time and again. Many examplesserve to illustrate this element of his lms.Pepa and Iván dub lms in Mujeres andorgan donor lms are created in All AboutMy Mother . A visiting lm crew saves theday in Volver by providing Penélope Cruz’scharacter with a group of hungry mouthsto feed, and a young lmmaker becomespart of the story in Bad Education with hisSuper-8 camera (arguably a reference tothe director himself).

Almodóvar’s work is also often self-referential. He remakes his own lmsand returns to his muses like CarmenMaura, Rossy de Palma, Marisa Paredes,Penélope Cruz, Chus Lampreave andAntonio Banderas, each time in differentcostumes, but always familiar. MarshaKinder appropriately notes that every timea new Almodóvar lm appears, viewersmust undergo a “rereading [of] his entirebody of work through each new remix”

a process that she calls “retro-seriality”(Kinder, 2009: 33). Indeed, one has toview his lms multiple times since thereferences build upon one another witheach new release. This re-reading and re-viewing enriches the understanding anddepth of each lm. For example, the storyline of the lm Volver , released in 2006, iscasually mentioned as a possible theme fora novel in The Flower of my Secret , whichwas released in 1995. Almodóvar’s returnsgive us a window into the progressionof the thought process he undertakes inmaking lms.

The Manchegan director is also known forhis many references to other lm genresand lmmakers. As Ernesto AcevedoMuñoz has noted, “the mélange of genreconventions […] and the pastiche qualityof Almodóvar’s aesthetics, mise enscène and narratives help to dene thedirector’s sense of narrative structureand visual style” (Acevedo Muñoz, 2008:1). Los abrazos rotos is no exception asit oscillates between lm noir, thriller andmelodrama, along with multiple allusionsto other lmmakers.

In most of his lms, it is obvious that heis constantly borrowing visual and verbal

quotations from other lms, whether byother directors or his own, thus creating agreat web of references to be decipheredby avid Almodóvar devotees. The Spanishdirector cites Alfred Hitchcock’s workrepeatedly in his lms. Acevedo-Muñozhas completed a detailed study of the

multiple references to Hitchcock inAlmodóvar’s lms, and these are relatedto intertextuality in Los abrazos rotos. Henotes: “From Blackmail (1929) to The LadyVanishes, from Notorious (1946) to Vertigo,Psycho, The Birds and Marnie (1964), whatHitchcock does to women is often takenas exemplary of the classical cinema’sxation with controlling, repressing andoccasionally even destroying troubledwomen” (Acevedo Muñoz, 2008: 99). InLos abrazos rotos, Lena exemplies thisxation as she is trapped in an abusive,controlling relationship with a man shedoes not love, Ernesto Martel. Ernesto isemotionally and physically violent towardsLena and will stop at nothing to manipulateher. Like many of Hitchcock’s female roles,after being beaten and psychologically worndown, in the long run, Lena is destroyed ina car accident.

This control and repression is directly playedout in a compelling twist when Almodóvarrefers to Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954)in chapter 15 of Los abrazos rotos. Inthe 1954 lm, professional photographer

L. B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart), thewheelchair-bound voyeur, peers into thewindows of his neighbors and sometimesrecords their suspicious actions. In Losabrazos rotos, Jeff is replaced with ErnestoJr., whose possessive father hired him tolm evidence of Lena and Mateo’s affair. Asin Hitchcock’s lm, the act of lming is alsoclearly referred to as we see Ernesto Jr.wielding his heavy camera as he waits onthe street to lm the silhouettes of Lena andMateo. Interestingly, this Hitchcock lm isalso cited in Mujeres, but in a much morecomplex and elaborate manner. In chapter

ve of the lm, as Pepa (Carmen Maura)waits on a park bench, she sees a womandancing in her underwear in the window,which is a reference to Jeff’s scantily cladneighbor who he observes dancing in RearWindow and subsequently nicknames “MissTorso.” In the next window, Pepa sees ayoung man who is upset and seems lonely.She appears to empathize with him as shenods, looking concerned. Almodóvar thusreplaces Hitchcock’s lonely woman (whomJeff refers to as “Miss Lonelyheart”) witha lonely man. Therefore, Pepa’s positionreects a reversal of the gaze in Hitchcock’s

lm, for she is initially a woman looking atanother woman, and then she observes alonely man instead of a woman. Pepa is


5/9

Oceánide 5 2013


not the only voyeur present that evening.Marisa (Rossy de Palma) sits in a carand views her boyfriend Carlos (AntonioBanderas) and his mother Lucía (JulietaSerrano) arguing in the apartment above,reminiscent of the different couples thatJeff observes in Rear Window . Pepa later

runs into Marisa and Carlos after a suitcasefalls on top of the phone booth where she istrying to make a phone call and discoversa photograph of her lover Iván (FernandoGuillén), who turns out to be Carlos’s father.It is from this photograph that Pepa realizesIván has a son. The revelations gatheredfrom these scenes are profound and relateto the relationships of the characters in thelm. In contrast, in Los abrazos rotos, theuse of the Hitchcock lm does not serveto demonstrate coincidences, but simply toshow further evidence of Lena and Mateo’saffair.

The latter examples indicate that Losabrazos rotos is constructed in part byrebuilding portions of Mujeres, and thislends to the more recent lm’s fragility.The piecing together of the segments fromthe 1988 lm serve to create instability,an element that is part and parcel ofall Almodóvar lms. It is important toremember that, “in Women on the Vergeof a Nervous Breakdown, his most popularlm of the 1980s and the denitivebreakthrough into the international

market, and later in All About My Mother ,intertextuality itself signies the processof building and rebuilding, inventing andreinventing an identity that is occasionallydened by its own instability” (AcevedoMuñoz, 2008: 6-7). The rebuilding of RearWindow in the two lms as well as theway in which Los abrazos rotos referencesMujeres exemplify the numerous levels ofintertextuality present in Almodóvar’s lms.This is related to the fact that the processof revisiting past catalogues is not uniqueto the Spanish auteur. As Baudrillard hasnoted, “cinema plagiarizes itself, recopies

itself, remakes its classics, retroactivatesits original myths […]” (Baudrillard,2006: 47). Los abrazos rotos touchesupon all of these themes by plagiarizing,recopying, remaking and retroactivinga classic, Mujeres al borde de un ataquede nervios. The relationship betweenthese lms demonstrates both the allureand the foibles inherent in the act of self-plagiarizing. Similarly, in his discussionof the lm Bad Education, Marvin D’Lugodeclares: “The things one thought buriedin the past return, or are made to return,but in different, even deceptive forms”

(D’Lugo, 2009: 357). Yet for Almodóvar,the past is never really buried. It alwaysreturns or is made to return, taking on

slightly different forms that can often bedeceptive, especially in the case of Losabrazos rotos.

It should be pointed out that these returnsto the past are not always completelydetrimental. In fact, some of the appealing

aspects of the director’s 17th feature arethese very references to the past. PaulJulian Smith notes “the truth is thatalthough there is ammunition for Pedro’sdetractors in Broken Embraces, thereremains much more for his faithful fansto enjoy and to recognize from previouslms” (Smith, 2009: np). There is a sensein which Almodóvar makes lms in part forhis fan club, for in order to understand allthe references one has to have seen all thelms, to be an enterado of sorts. Thereare a number of re-copied, remade andretro activated objects, motifs, scenes andcharacters from Mujeres that appear in Losabrazos rotos for fans to recognize. Thered telephone, the suitcase, the burnt bedand the gazpacho all reappear, yet eventhese items do not have as much bravadoin the newer lm.

In Chicas y maletas, Iván’s suitcase, thered telephone and the burnt bed are allshown in one quick tilted insert shot. Thisshot shows close-ups of these details andalso recalls the narrative of Mujeres whereIván’s departure drove Pepa to yank the

telephone chord out and torch her bed.However, in Chicas y maletas, the bedis already burned. When asked aboutwhat happened to it, Pina atly remarksin chapter 27 “se cayó una cerilla y salióardiendo y no quise apagarlo. El fuegopurica.” As viewers, we do not see thebed being burned, which is a much moreintense experience for the spectators thansimply viewing a charred bed. Gone is theardor of Pepa’s frantic move to burn herconjugal bed in Mujeres, which evokesRobert Rauschenberg’s abject 1955 pieceBed . Indeed, Pepa makes her own bed into

a work of modern art.

Gazpacho is appropriately featuredin Chicas, but even Penélope Cruz’sinterpretation of Carmen Maura’s gazpachoscenes is watered-down. In Chicas, Pina ismournful as she cuts the tomatoes for thegazpacho, and a single tear falls elegantlyon one of the tomatoes, while Pepa hasa ery look in her eyes as she furiouslyspikes the gazpacho with sleeping pills asa lure for Iván. The gazpacho in Mujeres also serves another purpose: to put thepolice and Marisa to sleep, therefore

enabling other aspects of the plot to unfold.Simply put, while Penélope Cruz certainlymerits attention for her performances


6/9

Oceánide 5 2013


in Almodóvar’s lms, his replacementsof Cruz with Maura’s characters are notsuccessful.

Despite their ultimate inadequacy, therecognizable elements from the pastwithin Los abrazos rotos are deliberate.

Marsha Kinder notes that Los abrazos rotosevokes a sense of familiarity and drawsparallels between the lm and Fellini’s8 ½, suggesting that it is Almodóvar’s “celebration of cinema” that leads himto be self-referential (Kinder, 2010: 34).Admittedly, some of the references toMujeres in Los abrazos rotos are veryentertaining, such as cameos in Chicas ymaletas by time-honored favorites like ChusLampreave and Rossy de Palma. Insteadof being a plain, dowdy Jehovah’s Witnesswho is wary of Pepa and nds the shoeCandela lost when she attempted suicide,Chus is now a well-suited, drill-sergeantlike woman. Rather than nding a shoe,she produces two small plastic replicas,one of the Eiffel Tower and the other of aRobert Indiana LOVE sculpture. She alsocasually says to herself when examiningthese objects: “Usted dice ‘love,’ yo digo ‘sexo.’” This line is one of the few thatactually captures something of the humorof Almodóvar’s back catalogue, and it isdelivered with Lampreave’s characteristicdelightfully dry, unassuming wit. This nodto Lampreave is actually more entertaining

than her frumpy character in Mujeres, butshe is a fundamentally changed characterin the newer lm. Characters like thoseplayed by Chus Lampreave are not theonly thing that is altered in Los abrazosrotos. Almodóvar meshes characters fromMujeres into distinctive people, combiningolder elements with newer ones to createa kind of pastiche of personas.

For instance, there are a number ofdizzying name changes and even characterconations in Chicas. Actress Rossy dePalma makes a cameo appearance in

Chicas, but instead of being Marisa, sheis a blend of two characters from Mujeres,Lucía and Paulina. In Chicas, she pushesPina down the stairs, thus recreating theactions of Iván’s insane ex-wife, Lucía.Yet, her demeanor and her costume, astructured plaid jacket, make a morespecic reference to Paulina Morales (KitiManver), the feminist lawyer and Iván’sthird lover in Mujeres who dons a similar jacket in the 1988 lm.

While these two references are amusingfor Almodóvar fans, each time scenes that

represent obvious references to Mujeres appear, they are diluted. Lucía’s characteris much more demented in Mujeres. She

is not on the verge but completely overthe edge, and goes much further withher insanity than her character equivalentin Chicas by going to the airport andattempting to shoot Iván. In Mujeres, ironically, it is Pepa that ends up savingIván from his crazed ex-wife. A complete

role reversal occurs between the originaland the remake because in Chicas, Pinais completely passive, and is instead thevictim of Lucía, who pushes her down thestairs. In Mujeres, Pepa pushes a carttowards Lucía, thus putting her out ofcommission and taking on an active role.

In Chicas, most of the characters arerather apathetic and devoid of thepassionate emotion of Mujeres. When theyoung couple arrives at Pina’s apartmentwe do not see their faces, but only Pina’sface, and their entry occurs withoutincident—they are simply let in the door.In contrast, in Mujeres, this scene ishighly charged. Even before the door isopened, the mirroring effects made withthe peephole are stunning, and Candela’s(María Barranco) agitation is palpable, forshe realizes she is trapped. In Mujeres, thearrival of the couple marks the beginningof a whole series of intense, comical anddramatic scenes. This is not evident at all inChicas. Since these dramatic elements areremoved, if one was watching Los abrazosrotos for the rst time, this reference to

Mujeres would probably be completely lostas it is completely insignicant in Chicas.For those who have seen Mujeres, it isactually much more entertaining to see theRossy de Palma look-a-like, complete witha Picasso nose, in the take that was onlyadded in the deleted scenes of Chicas.

Mujeres is replete with tension, excitementand odd coincidences on many levels.While some of these are referred toin Chicas, they are not nearly as wellexecuted. In Mujeres, Carlos (played by ayouthful Antonio Banderas), only gures

out that his father, Iván is involved withPepa because there is a photograph of thecouple together in Pepa’s penthouse. Henotices the photograph during their chancemeeting when he and his girlfriend stumbleupon Pepa’s apartment during their searchfor a new home. However, in an outtakefrom Broken Embraces (featured on theDVD), Iván’s son simply states his name,Antonio, at the door, obviously referringto Antonio Banderas. There is nothinginteresting about the revelation of hisidentity in this scene; it is simply a nod toBanderas.

Mujeres is a hilarious composition of randomoccurrences. It just so happens that Carlos


7/9

Oceánide 5 2013


and Marisa come to Pepa’s apartment,sent by a realtor, not knowing that Pepais Iván’s ex-lover and Carlos’s would-bestepmother. All the characters in Mujeres keep seeing one another and form a webof random yet also intimate associations.For example, one always remembers the

endearing “Mambo Taxi” and audiencesexperience visceral tension in seeing howfrequently characters just miss each other.These surprises and coincidences are notprominently featured in Chicas, which is afundamental aspect of Mujeres. As DespinaKakoudaki remarks:

InWomen on the Verge of a NervousBreakdown […] with the charactersconstantly moving and the cameraremaining stable in order to deliverthe visual punch line of their missedmeetings, other objects emerge topropel and motivate the narrative:Carlos’s and Iván’s suitcases, boththrown away at random only to hittheir proverbial marks and bringthe characters together, and thebeloved “Mambo Taxi” that appearsdesigned according to a logic ofrepetition and visual pleasure.(Kakoudaki, 2009: 199).

As Kakoudaki points out, the objectsare steeped in meaning because of theirrepeated appearances in the quirkiest

situations. The coincidences that areorchestrated in Mujeres contribute to thecreation of a rich, intricate chain of eventsthat is completely absent from Chicas.

Moreover, Mujeres is a more technicallycomplex lm. This is observed in a numberof instances. Both Mujeres and Los abrazosrotos make use of similar elements.Asynchronous sound is used when Pepais dubbing a lm and hears the voice ofIván, and she repeatedly hears his voice intelephone messages. The appearances ofIván’s voice contribute to Pepa’s odyssey

to actually connect with him in person.The asynchronous sound of Iván’s voicemakes quite an impact as he is hardlyseen on screen at all, but he is the objectof Pepa’s hot pursuit throughout the lm.In Los abrazos rotos, asynchronous soundis utilized less effectively. The jilted lover,Ernesto Martel, listens to the dead-pandubbing that is repeated back to him bythe lip reader (played by Lola Dueñas) hehas hired to help him spy on his wife, whois cheating on him with lm director Mateo.Employing asynchronous sound callsattention to itself so that “[…] the spectator

is made aware that she or he is watchinga lm (so the illusion of identication istemporarily removed or deconstructed)”

and it also “[…] serves to disrupt time andspace and thereby narrative continuity”(Hayward, 2006: 30). In both lms,asynchronous sound creates a sense ofdislocation and instability for spectatorsand for the characters in the lms, allof whom suffer from the words that are

revealed to them in a cold, expressionlessmanner.

In addition, the two-shots in Mujeres aregenerally more elaborate. When Pepa andCandela nally talk in Mujeres, the sceneis very intimate. The two women are shottalking face to face in a medium shotshallow focus, and both Pepa and Candelaare in sharp focus while Marisa and Carlosare blurred in the background. Placing thetwo spectators in the background intensiesPepa and Candela’s conversation. The useof shallow focus has the result of creatingtwo levels of the plot and there is tensionbetween the young lovers, since Carlos has just blown Marisa off when she asks himif he loves her. In Chicas, the interactionbetween the characters is much lesscomplex, on a technical and emotionallevel. In the parallel shot in Chicas, nothingin the background setting reveals anotherlevel of action.

Furthermore, the conversation betweenPepa and Candela intrigues Marisa andit is obvious she does not want to leave.

The reaction shot of her hesitancy ismemorable and emotive. Marisa is a virginand overhears Pepa consoling Candela bysaying that sex is very important at herage. While in Mujeres, Marisa then dreamsup her sexual adventures after drinkingthe spiked gazpacho, in La Concejala it isChun who tells Marisol of her own sexualexperiences and fantasies, which is actuallyrather entertaining. Marisa’s whole process,however, is a bit lost in Chicas, for thereis not as much mystery in La Concejala.Chun’s character is not nearly as edgy asCandela.

Even the colors that the two women wear inthe respective lms show their differences.Throughout Mujeres, Pepa and Candelawear 1980s striking shades of blue and red,both bold, primary colors. In Chicas, Pinaand Chun wear brown and orange, muchmore nondescript colors that reect theircorresponding neutral personalities. Thetwo female characters are rather polarizingin Mujeres as we see that the very nervousmalagueña, Candela, is desperate to havesomeone listen to her. So desperate, infact, that she tries to commit suicide and

must be dramatically rescued. In Chicas,we see Chun, who seems exceedinglycalm after discovering a suitcase full of 15


8/9

Oceánide 5 2013


kilos of cocaine in her apartment, left notby Shi’ite terrorists but by a drug dealerwith whom she has recently slept. She iscontent with the arrival of the cocaine,calling it “buenísima” and while she wantsto rid herself of it, she also points out thatshe can distribute it among her colleagues:

“entre los compañeros del partido y en elayuntamiento podría repartir hasta doskilos.” Chun is politically conservative anda member of the P-A-P party, which is anobvious stab at the PP (Partido Popular) anda reection of how Almodóvar has becomeincreasingly outspoken politically. Despiteher political beliefs, she is sexually liberal(sex is a “social interest” for her), and atone point she notes “yo creo que Francoera un buen gobernante, pero referenteal sexo, no se enteraba”. Her remarks arecertainly amusing.

Interestingly, instead of representingCandela or even Pepa’s counterpart, inmany ways Chun most closely resemblesPatty Diphusa, Pedro Almodóvar’s alterego whose stories are published in thetext Patty Diphusa (1991) and partlyrepresented by Fabio/Fanny McNamara inLaberinto de pasiones. Chun’s entertainingrole is very much in the spirit of his rsttwo feature lms, but was not includedin the original lm but rather as a specialfeature, perhaps because it might beconsidered altogether too scandalous

for some. However, the lm La concejalaantropófaga is much more successfulthan the scenes from Chicas y maletas incapturing at least the humor of Mujeres alborde de un ataque de nervios.

Yet, in the end, Mujeres is out of reach inChicas y maletas. Indeed, as Marsha Kindercomments: “[…] in Almodóvar’s personalmyth, this strategic repetition threatensto draw his entire lmography into aspiraling mise en abîme, generating newversions while keeping the point of originout of reach” (Kinder, 2009: 268). Here,

the point of origin is not only Mujeres, butalso the success that this lm generated,and even a lost era. In Chicas y maletas,Mujeres is the point of origin that is justout of reach. What of Almodóvar’s desireto constantly return to the past? PaulJulian Smith surmises that Los abrazosrotos “reveals Almodóvar’s nostalgia forhis own back catalogue” (Smith, 2009:np). Could it be that he is a product ofthe nostalgia surrounding the 1980s andthe now famous Movida madrileña, thecountercultural moment that he helped toengineer? Many other creative individuals

from this period speak of this moment asa kind of golden age that will never occuragain. It has now achieved a mythical

status and is ever more lost in the spiralsof its own recreation, much like some ofAlmodóvar’s recent lms.

The meaning and effects of the dependenceon nostalgia is addressed in a number ofways towards the end of Los abrazos rotos.

At the close of the lm, it seems that the pastis lost on the lm director and protagonist,Harry Caine. His nal words and actionsin Los abrazos rotos are especially telling.When he is nally able to reconstructChicas y maletas, only because Judit heldonto the lm, his nal statement about thelm is: “Lo importante es terminarla. Laspelículas hay que terminarlas, aunque seaa ciegas.” One cannot help but wonder ifthese are the sentiments of Almodóvar attimes.

Even when Diego tries to put the tornfragments of the photographs that werelong relegated to a plastic bag in a lockeddesk back together, he cannot. The pasteludes him and can never be neatlyassembled again. When Harry obtains thefootage of the accident that left him blindand Lena dead, he says to Diego, “Pónmelocuadro a cuadro, para que dure más.”This request is the culmination of Harry’snostalgia for his lost past. Harry clearlyexhibits a sense of loss, in addition to aromance with his fantasy of his brief loveaffair with Lena. Even though he is unable

to see the images projected on the screen,Harry strokes the screen in an effort tosomehow touch Lena. One cannot help butwonder if Almodóvar is blindly reaching forsomething he can no longer see or touch,like when Harry feebly asked to touch andsomehow grasp the forever silent image ofhis lover, Lena.

The question then becomes: is Almodóvarlost? Or, as Paul Julian Smith quietly begsthe question “Whisper it softly: afterthree decades of feverish creativity hasAlmodóvar nally run out of new ideas?”

(Smith, 2009: np). Is he aware that, as inan Andy Warhol print (like the ones madeof Penélope Cruz’s character’s face for therelease of the lm), something is lost in allthe repetition? In retrospect, perhaps at thepoint at which he developed the 2009 lm,he was a bit starved for ideas. His latest lmLa piel que habito/The Skin I Live In (2011)demonstrates his recycling of old themesbut also takes things to extremes previouslyunseen in Almodóvar’s work. However, inLos abrazos rotos, the adaptation of the1988 hit into Chicas y maletas eventuallybecomes not only a lost object, but also

shows either that the director is at a lossor that Mujeres is somehow forever lost. Inthe end, it becomes clear that Los abrazos


9/9

Oceánide 5 2013


rotos speaks to the fact that, as Baudrillardreminds us; “today cinema can place all itstalent, all its technology in the service ofreanimating what it itself contributed toliquidating. It only resurrects ghosts, and ititself is lost therein” (Baudrillard, 2006: 48).It seems that Almodóvar tries to resucitateMujeres, but in so doing, only liquidates it:he breaks it down, but it ends up beingbroken, and seems impossible to x.

WORKS CITED

ACEVEDO MUÑOZ, E. (2008). Pedro Almodóvar. London: Palgrave McMillan.ALMODÓVAR, P. (1988). Women on theVerge of a Nervous Breakdown. Madrid: ElDeseo.---. (2009). Broken Embraces. Madrid: ElDeseo.BAUDRILLARD, J. (2006). Simulacra andSimulation. Ann Arbor: The University ofMichigan Press.BOYM, S. (2001). The Future of Nostalgia.New York: Basic Books.D’LUGO, M. (2009). “Postnostalgia inBad Education.” In All About Almodóvar:

A Passion for Cinema, EPPS, B. andKAKOUDAKI, D. (Eds.). Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press, 357-388.EPPS, B. and KAKOUDAKI, D. (Eds.).(2009). All About Almodóvar: A Passionfor Cinema. Minneapolis: University ofMinnesota Press.

HAYWARD, S. (2006). Cinema Studies.The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge.KAKOUDAKI, D. (2009). “IntimateStrangers: Melodrama and Coincidencein Talk to Her .” In All About Almodóvar:

A Passion for Cinema, EPPS, B. and D.Kakoudaki (Eds.). Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press, 193-240.KINDER, M. (2009). “All About theBrothers. Retroseriality in Almodóvar’sCinema.” In All About Almodóvar: APassion for Cinema, EPPS, B. and D.Kakoudaki (Eds.). Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press, 267-294.

---. (2010). “Restoring Broken Embraces.”Film Quarterly 63 (3), 28-34.SMITH, P. J. (2009). “Los abrazosrotos/Broken Embraces. LavaLovers and Celluloid Cocoons.” June2009. Blog sites.google.com/site/pauljuliansmithlmreviews/Home/los-abrazos-rotos-broken-embraces (LastAccess: 12/3/2012).

Título: Las deciencias del simulacro: losfragmentos del pasado en Los abrazosrotos de Pedro Almodóvar.

Contact:

[email protected]

Dialnet-TheShortcomingsOfSimulacra-4218263

Documents

Transcript of Dialnet-TheShortcomingsOfSimulacra-4218263