Programme Notes Monday 31st May 7.30pm The Human Voice + recorded Q&A (15) Shot over nine days in Madrid in July 2020, The Human Voice is the first work in the English language by Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar. Madness and melancholy intersect to thrilling effect as Almodóvar reimagines Jean Cocteau’s short play La voix humaine for an era in which isolation has become a way of life. Laws of desire become the rules of the game as Tilda Swinton’s unnamed woman paces and panics in a glorious Technicolor apartment where décor offers a window into her state of mind. A short, sharp shot of distilled Almodóvar: passion, emotion, heartbreak, wit, and melodrama exquisitely bound up in a tale for our times. First performed in Paris in 1930, Cocteau’s play features a woman saying goodbye on the phone to her lover, who is about to marry someone else. The play has been adapted before, and was indeed the springboard for Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The 30-minute film, which premiered to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in summer 2020, will be followed by a 45-minute recorded Q&A. Hosted by Mark Kermode, Almodóvar and Swinton discuss the inspirations they drew on for the film, how this film fits within the ‘Almodóvar oeuvre’, and what Pedro will be making next - including a great surprise for Tilda. Recorded under lockdown conditions, the discussion features visual references and clips to create a dynamic and interesting companion piece to the short film. REVIEWS Undoubtedly, Almodóvar is one of few visionaries who can succeed at enthralling through self- referential nods. With this 30-minute visual morsel he further evolves the nesting dolls of stories he’s built around the same French monodrama. For an artist so set in his stylistic and thematic ways, it’s always riveting to see how he maneuvers his tropes. Watching a new Almodóvar confection is like tasting a sumptuously familiar dish not just reheated but revamped via the introduction of new ingredients that elevate what we already adore about it. He revisits without repeating … it’s glorious to receive a concentrated shot of Almodóvar’s genius worth every minute in acting gold. Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times Far from being a slice-of-life weepy, though, Almodovar’s film is nuanced and canny. Even the credits – spelled out in carpenter’s tools – declare it to be a well-crafted confection … Swinton (pictured right) plays an actress. It's a role that suits her perfectly since she often seems to be performing self-consciously, whether posing as Edith Sitwell for Tim Walker, exchanging britches for crinolines in Sally Potter’s Orlando or sleeping in a glass case at the Serpentine Gallery in 1995. Creating an edgy sense of detachment, it lends her monologue an emotional complexity that makes it a mesmerising tour de force. Sarah Kent, The Arts Desk It’s not as if anyone talks like this anyway, articulating violent heartbreak through film references as neatly coordinated as her Technicolor apartment decor. We’re in the world of Pedro Almodóvar, where raw human feeling and dizzily heightened artifice are complementary modes of expression, not contradictory ones: The Human Voice, his palate-cleansing vodka shot of a short film, distils his own rules of the game and laws of desire into a concise, concentrated burst of demented passion … It’s a spry little change of pace and form that points to fresh future possibilities while glancing back on where he’s been, enfolding a multitude of his pet themes and influences — down to such briefly glimpsed cultural fetish objects as a book of Alice Munro stories, or even a DVD of Pablo Larraín’s “Jackie” — into one broken embrace. Guy Lodge, Variety Cast Crew Tilda Swinton Woman Director Pedro Almodóvar Agustín Almodóvar Writer Pedro Almodóvar, Jean Cocteau Miguel Almodóvar Producer Agustín Almodóvar, Pablo Almodóvar Esther García Diego Pajuelo Cinematography José Luis Alcaine Carlos García Editing Teresa Font Cambero Music Alberto Iglesias Film Facts Tilda Swinton is dressed in the film in a wealth of fabulous fashion, particularly from Balenciaga and featuring shades of red, so frequently seen in the films of Pedro Almodóvar. The art works on the apartment walls, the DVDs and the book collection were carefully selected by the director - and indeed, most came directly from his own apartment. The paintings featured include Artemisia Gentileschi’s Venus and Cupid, but also work by Almodóvar himself. The director gave one of them to Swinton as a gift at the end of the shoot. Tilda Swinton spoke to Vogue about first watching Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown when she was working with Derek Jarman. “He was always our Spanish cousin, very dear and greatly cherished as a fellow traveller … In 1988, then, WOTVOANB, with its glorious cocktail of references, from Johnny Guitar and Jean Cocteau to the slapstick of Georges Feydeau or Ray Cooney and the hilarious nonsense – especially in the region occupied by Julieta’s blown-out wig in the tunnel in the motorbike chase – previously not seen outside of either Benny Hill, John Waters or The Beano, was intoxicating.” Asked which was her favourite Almodóvar film, Swinton says: “I have an affection for each of them, as for different friends. But I think Talk to Her, Volver and Pain and Glory touch me the most: the relationship between the past and the present – the hauntings – the unbarred emotion, the tenderness in the way their protagonists find resolution and solace in their present, are exquisitely told in each and served by sublime performances throughout.” The film was in rehearsal in March 2020 when Spain went into lockdown. However, Almodóvar says that Covid did not force any major changes to the script - but the ending was changed significantly from the script due to an uncooperative dog, Dash, the collie! Sign up for our email list at https://saffronscreen.com/mailinglist/ You can specifically request that these Monday night programme notes are emailed to you in advance. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram for regular updates. .