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Almodovar's Spain: Cinema and Society

Module description

Without doubt Spain’s foremost artist since the coming of democracy, Almodóvar’s cinema is something of an enigma. Author of over twenty motion pictures that have chronicled, critiqued and enjoyed multiple facets of the new nation, Almodóvar remains bizarrely less popular in his home country than abroad. In parallel, he is author of a body of work that engages in cinephilic dialogue with Spanish cinema, yet his films are often only analysed as a transnational cinema that speaks an international film language. This module will explore his work through four key examples, mapped against both national and transnational film contexts.

Suitable for level 3 Hispanic Studies/ Film Studies/Visual Culture students.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Gain a detailed understanding of the work of Spain’s foremost artist since the coming of democracy
• Engage with key questions in Film Studies, including cinephilia, ‘National’ and ‘Transnational’ Cinemas
• Explore the genres of comedy and melodrama, and analyse the use of film form, such as mise en scène (including casting), sound, editing and cinematography
• Analyse shifting and intertwined historical and theoretical contexts
• Study films that range from the heady days of the Spanish Transition to democracy, to contemporary films that address the challenges faced by the contemporary nation
• Consider production contexts to arrive at an understanding of how a films gets made (its financing, distribution and exhibition as well as the ways the director and creative teams were trained)
• Explore the cultural theory that surrounds the richly suggestive questions that arise when considering Almodóvar’s work

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the chosen films and an understanding of their significance in the broader historical and cultural contexts in which they were produced

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 2. After initial input from the course tutor, apply and evaluate critical approaches to the material under analysis independently
• 3. Argue at length and in detail about an aspect of a selected topic, supporting the argument with evidence from the film(s) and with opinions from secondary literature
• 4. Use a range of film-critical terminology, applying it to independently researched material as well as to material introduced by the course tutor
• 5. Access and use critically printed and, where appropriate, electronic learning resources identified as useful by the course tutor; find independently and evaluate critically other relevant resources
• 6. Analyse films from a variety of genres and styles, showing an awareness of their relation to the historical and cultural context in which they were produced, and present the results orally and in writing
• 7. Demonstrate advanced skills of visual literacy, e.g. an understanding of the role of film genre and an ability to distinguish and evaluate techniques of mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing and sound editing

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Negotiate individual assessment tasks and/or topics with course tutor, identifying own areas of strength and interest
• 9. Using bibliographical material provided, select, plan and carry out a programme of study leading to an essay / presentation on a chosen topic, to a specified length and deadline
• 10. Undertake independent research tasks on the basis of a taught course
• 11. Adopt a critical approach to the selection and organisation of a large body of material in order to produce, to a deadline, a written or oral argument of some complexity

Syllabus plan

This module takes four key examples from Almodóvar’s body of work, and innovatively reads each film against a contrasting example from world cinema and from Spanish cinema history. We will pay particular attention to genre, film form, historical contexts and cultural theory. Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The Franco dictatorship
• The Transition
• Democracy
• National cinema
• Transnational cinema
• Cinephilia
• Auteur studies

Our four key films and their comparator films may vary depending on availability, but might typically include four of these ‘sets’:

• ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?! (What have I Done to Deserve This!? 1984) and El mundo sigue ( Life Goes On Fernán Gómez 1963) and Bicycle Thieves (De Sica 1948)
• Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios ( Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 1988) and Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces Almodóvar 2009) and How to Marry a Millionaire (Negulesco 1953)
• Volver (2006) and El sur ( The South Erice 1983) and Two Women (De Sica 1960)
• Julieta (2016) and La tía Tula ( Aunt Tula Picazo 1964) and The Hours (Daldry 2002)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bentley, Bernard, A Companion to Spanish Cinema, Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2008
• Delgado, Maria and Robin Fiddian (eds) Spanish Cinema 1973 - 2010: Auteurism, Politics, Landscape and Memory, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013
• Dennison, Stephanie (ed), Contemporary Hispanic Cinema: Interrogating the Transnational in Spanish and Latin American Film , Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2013
• Faulkner, Sally, A History of Spanish Film: Cinema and Society 1910-2010 , New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013
• Jordan, Barry, and Mark Allinson, Spanish Cinema: A Student's Guide ,  London: Hodder Arnold, 2005
• Labanyi, Jo and Tatjana PavloviÃ?��Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ (eds), A Companion to Spanish Cinema , Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013
• PavloviÃ?��Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½, Tatjana and others, 2009, 100 Years of Spanish Cinema , Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 
• Triana-Toribio, Núria, Spanish National Cinema , London: Routledge, 2003
• Wright, Sarah, The Child in Spanish Cinema , Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7193 

Key words search

Pedro almodovar; Spanish cinema; cinephilia