Pain and Glory, The Story of Pedro Almodovar

Amy Winehouse may have gone back to black, but Pedro Almodovar chose going back to color. 

During most of the 2019 film, Pain and Glory, Almodovar's choice between black or color is too close to call. On the pain side of the story, there is a lot, and it's physical as much as it is spiritual. On the glory side of the story, there is less than there is pain, but as Almodovar shows us, even in small amounts, glory is catalyzed by healing.  

Salvador Mallo is a thinly-disguised version of the film's director, Pedro Almodovar. Salvador is a film director who has stopped working. His body is racked with pain and mysterious ailments.  His memories of childhood are a counterbalance to the darkness of his present pain-filled life, yet they provide no way forward from his painful present.

 Salvador as a child is portrayed by Asier Flores. As an adult his character is played by Antonio Banderas. 

Pain and Glory is the story of how friends, some long-standing and others long-lost, reflect back to us the self that we cannot see on our own.    

A chance encounter with an old friend who has seen an actor he once worked with starts the film and Salvador's journey.  A screening is planned for the remastered version of the director's break-out 1980's film. This is not a cause for celebration. He has been unwilling to see the film for 30 years. Salvador's break-out film caused him a near breakdown: He had a friendship-ending quarrel with one of the principal actors. His addicted partner of three years left Madrid for Buenos Aires and a new life.  His efforts to be the son his mother always wanted ended with her death in an ICU in a hospital in Madrid instead of within the traditions and customs of her village where he had promised she would be taken to die.  

In one of the movie's luminous flashbacks Salvador as a small child teaches a young, handsome mason from his village how to read and write. After setting in some tiles in Salvador's mother's sunny kitchen, the mason removes his clothes to wash off the mortar.  He asks Salvador to bring him a towel. The boy faints either because he’s been in the sun too long or because he is overcome by the sight of the mason bathing. 

Almodóvar uses color in this film as in his whole work like a painter. Whether you are in a cave, a doctor's office, kitchen or a theater stage, color is as important to the story as the actors. And it is most important in this film, because Salvador, who  lives in the dark literally works his way back into light and color. 

This film is about choosing carefully. Almodóvar clearly made the right choices.