¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! (1984)

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writers:

Pedro Almodóvar (screenplay)
Pedro Almodóvar (story)

Release Date:

30 March 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A dysfunctional family in Madrid: Gloria is a cleaning lady, hooked on No-Doze, living in a crowded flat with Antonio...

Plot Keywords:

Hitler | Lizard | Dentist | Madrid Spain | Female Nudity

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Carmen Maura	...	Gloria
Luis Hostalot	...	Polo
Ryo Hiruma	...	Profesor Kendo
Ángel de Andrés López	...	Antonio (as Angel de Andres-Lopez)
Gonzalo Suárez	...	Lucas Villalba (as Gonzalo Suarez)
Verónica Forqué	...	Cristal
Juan Martínez	...	Toni
Chus Lampreave	...	Abuela
Kiti Manver	...	Juani
Sonia Anabela Holimann	...	Vanessa
Cecilia Roth	...	Chica anuncio
Diego Caretti	...	Chico anuncio
José Manuel Bello	...	Colega barrio
Pedro Almodóvar	...	Play-Back 'La bien pagá' (as Almodovar)
Fabio McNamara	...	Play-Back 'La bien pagá' (as McNamara)

Also Known As:

What Have I Done to Deserve This? (USA)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

German | Spanish | French

Colour:

Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:16 | Australia:MA (DVD rating) (2006) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:III

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Kaktus Producciones Cinematográficas

Trivia:

Victoria Abril turned down the chance to star in the film, as she didn't want to play another prostitute, having just played one recently.

Quotes:

Miguel: [back home after being given in adoption to a pedophiliac dentist] At first it was fun, but I am too young to be tied down.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La ley del deseo (1987)

Soundtrack:

Nur nicht aus liebe weinen

Narrative Eye

I loved this. It isn't so great compared to later projects where he knows how to use knives instead of chalk. And he decides to understand women, instead of understanding their luggage.

But this is better in a way because you can see the man, what a friend calls the exposed plumbing of what later would become a polished structure.

Stories in Almodovar's soul, that wonderful soul, appear first as images that only after they crack their shells into the fluttering wind of sight do they loose into their narrative trajectory. Sight first, then narrative. But because the narrative comes directly from the cinematic, it flows with an unusual naturalness. It drives into complexities, even emotion depths. It becomes surreal in places, but it all seems natural because it flows from the image within.

And that gives us another advantage. Nearly all films about love and women begin all their major strokes from the written or spoken word and the situations that grow out of them. That means in film that we are stuck with a limited vocabulary and set of patterns that not only dull with repetition, but aren't cinematic at root.

Even in this early film, you can see that because these eyesweets were never touched by pen, they are all fresh without leaving what we accept as true. Its quite an achievement.

The standout performance? A ten year old redhead with "powers," and around whom everything happens. She may be the cause.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.