Matador

Had to happen sooner or later: here is the first Almodóvar I didn’t entirely love. It crosses that fun-to-flirt-with line between lovably wild and actually unpleasant, framing violence and sex as bleakly and viciously as in Haneke — with, admittedly, much more visual panache. Another first: never has sex in an Almodóvar been so unsexy. Perhaps this one proves his “range.”

Anyway: in this film he conflates the violence of a bullfight with the violence of sex with the violence of something inherent in Spanish culture — again, in a Hanekean sense this is an interesting statement, but his characters (ordinarily so richly drawn!) are simple and baffling, and as in Law of Desire they are reduced to instinct, but perhaps instincts I cannot penetrate. Banderas’ vertigo gives way to telepathy in a truly silly finish — of course I have enjoyed my Almodóvar truly silly, but this one didn’t entirely work for me. Still, there really is a lot of visual bravura in this film, and anything with supporting roles for Carmen, Julieta and Chus is going to be plenty fun.

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Added, 17 June 2007:

I’m thinking of amending my review, though. In a way Matador is masterful because I don’t think he’s trying to make a “statement,” as I said. Those two characters belong to an extreme sadomasochist sexual subculture, and it’s impressive (in a way!) how he presents it without judgment. I also don’t think the film is meant to shock the viewer into a new awareness about some topical issue — as Haneke does. So in the end, I would agree that it is still a very good film, but I would also agree that I may never want to see it again because — yes, it is still very unpleasant to watch!!