¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?
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| ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? | |
|---|---|
 Original Spanish poster. Pictured: Carmen Maura |
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| Directed by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Written by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Starring | Carmen Maura Luis Hostalot Verónica Forqué |
| Release date(s) | October 25, 1984 (Spain) |
| Running time | 101 Min |
| Language | Spanish English |
| IMDb profile | |
¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (English: What Have I Done To Deserve This?) is a 1984 film by Pedro Almodóvar. The title is sometimes given with an exclamation mark at the end rather than a question mark.
Almodóvar has described his fourth film as a homage to Italian Neorealism, although this tribute also involves jokes about paedophilia, prostitution, and a telekenetic child. The film, set in the towerblocks around Madrid, depicts female frustration and family breakdown, echoing Jean-Luc Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her but with Almodóvar's unique approach to filmmaking. Carmen Maura has often worked for Almodóvar, she became a synonym of strong woman and also a gay icon for her role as a transsexual in La ley del deseo.
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[edit] Plot
The film is a slice of a housewife's life in 80's Madrid. Gloria (Carmen Maura) lives in a small and cheap apartment with husband and two children: the declared homosexual Miguel (12) and the cocaine addict and pusher Toni (14). Her husband, Antonio, is a violent and sexist man, constantly dreaming about a German woman he broke-up with before he fell in love with Gloria.
Gloria's mother-in-law, quite retarded and always talking, is another addition to the poor woman's struggle. The only positive character is a prostitute, Crystal, who lives next-door and is Gloria's only true friend.
Due to a nervous breakdown, Gloria kills Antonio with a ham bone and the real drama begins, between sense of guilt, feminist pride and the development of crazy side stories also involving a pervert writer, his beauty-obsessed wife and an impotent policeman frustrated by his lack of sexual power, entrusted to the crime's solution.
[edit] Analysis
The presence of the telekenetic girl-child adds a bit of magic to the story, but neither this nor the ironic exploitation of sex and perversion grab the movie from its realistic tone, ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? is Almodóvar's manifesto, featuring most of his key themes: feminism, sexual liberation, homosexuality, drug use and, even if in an unfamiliar way, family.
Miguel's line about deciding what to do with his own body is one of feminism's main mottos, and being spoken by a male, may represent Almodóvar's invitation to total lack of genre boundaries and schemes. A lizard called Money is the only witness of the crime, which may be a metaphor for consumerism.
[edit] Interesting Facts
In one scene, Toni asks his grandma to help him classify some authors under romanticism or realism. She classifies each author quickly and easily, although incorrectly. This may be a hint, a suggestion not to wonder about the film's genre, which is both realistic and romantic.
The episode of the paedophile dentist who adopts Miguel is there to focus on the reaction of the child, symbol of the modern consumerism, whose only preoccupation is the presence of satellite tv in the apartment of the man.
Gloria works as a cleaner in a gym where kendo is taught. There she occasionally trains with a stick after the working time. When she kills Antonio, we realize how an object came from her state of submission (the stick) is used to take over the domination of sexism.
As always, the character of the prostitute is a positive one; it's used to destroy the belief of sexual liberation being related to bad people. So it is for transsexuals in most of his movies. With this approach towards minorities he is able to open people's minds to dialogue and acceptance.
[edit] Trivia
- A song called "What Have I Done To Deserve This" is included in Pet Shop Boys' album Actually. The duo are gay icons as well.
- German lyrical music is played throughout the movie.
[edit] External links
Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980) • Laberinto de pasiones (1982) • Entre tinieblas (1983) • ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (1984) • Matador (1986) • La ley del deseo (1987) • Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988) • ¡Átame! (1990) • Tacones lejanos (1991) • Kika (1993) • La flor de mi secreto (1995) • Carne trémula (1997) • Todo sobre mi madre (1999) • Hable con ella (2002) • La mala educación (2004) • Volver (2006)
