Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, Pain and Glory , has received rave reviews in the United States since its release there just over a month ago. The New York Times called the film "sublime," and the LA Times summarized it as "Pedro Almodóvar at his best." The latest prestigious endorsement has just come from Time magazine , which has named Pain and Glory the best film of 2019. Not Joker , Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , or (let's get serious for once), Parasite . No. Pain and Glory.
Pain and Glory 's contribution to cinematic imagination and history is undeniable. Its ability to connect with audiences, however, is less so.
Unlike Parasite, arguably the best film of 2019 , Pain and Glory is the story of one person. Parasite is the story of a society. Parasite offers multiple layers of interpretation, all accessible to all kinds of audiences, ages, and social backgrounds. Pain and Glory does not. Pedro Almodóvar creates cinematic artifacts in the style of Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, or Buñuel. He has been doing so ever since American critics took notice of him.
With my mind set outside
It is no secret that in America the foreign triumphs in the same way that in Spain (and throughout the world) the public feels an excessive filiation for the American. It is also no secret that in Spain not a few viewers left the cinema after seeing Pain and Glory with a certain feeling of unsatisfied hunger: «already? Was this all?
Unfortunately, we Spaniards are never going to enjoy Almodóvar as much as the foreign public.
Pain and Glory is a film that, aesthetically, in its style, and atmosphere , was destined to be far more successful abroad than it has been in its country of origin. Woody Allen has experienced something similar throughout his entire career. And it's not a short one. For years now, it seems that Pedro Almodóvar makes his films with his mind more on foreign audiences than on Spain. There's nothing wrong with that. Alice Munro shines much brighter than Elvira Lindo.
It could be argued that the plot of Pain and Glory is weak. That there is no story, or if there is, it lacks the expected robustness to sustain a 108-minute film. One might think that not much happens in the movie, that it is essentially nothing more than a parade of vignettes that gain in electricity and artistic charge when one learns that they are self-referential, alluding to the life of the film's own director.
As endearing as it is to hang clothes on the bushes by the river, live in a cave or give a child a chocolate sandwich, we already knew all these pictures because they belong to the history and tradition of the Spain that existed before yesterday and that our grandparents still tell us about.
Pain and glory final surprise
The final scene's twist is a perfect exercise in delivering a shock to the viewer, who, by the time the lights come up, hasn't even had time to process what has just been revealed. To process the surprise, the bewilderment, and perhaps even the skill of the filmmaker from La Mancha. Critics love leaving the theater satisfied and with their preconceived notions challenged.
The final twist in Pain and Glory reveals a highly original structure/approach. But that twist isn't enough to sustain the supposed grandeur of an autobiographical film that, when it suits it, is merely fiction interspersed with real events . When it suits it, the scenes are semi-autobiographical, or invented, or pure Almodóvar non-fiction, etc., etc. If it's being sold to us as a film based on the life of Pedro Almodóvar, the film should accept all the consequences of wrapping itself in such cellophane. However unpleasant it may be to smoke heroin like a chimney.
The American magazine Variety has called this "a mature work of meticulously crafted metafiction."
Pain and Glory is a delightful and essential film. It's understandable that the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Its 108 minutes fly by. Pain and Glory more than delivers on what good cinema should be: entertaining and, moreover, offering quality. However, let's not get carried away. Perhaps it's the same old story: no one is a prophet in their own land. Perhaps Almodóvar just isn't working for us Spaniards.