Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 1998 Almodóvar on the Verge of Cocteau's "La Voix humaine" Linda M. Willem Butler University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Willem, Linda M. "Almodóvar on the Verge of Cocteau's La Voix humaine," Literature/Film Quarterly 26 (1998): 142-47. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Almodovar on the Verge of Cocteau's La Voix humaine Jean Cocteau'S onc-act play, LA Voix Immaille [The Huma" Voice], consists entirely of a monologue by a woman engaged in a fmal phone conversation with her lover. Alone in her room, she desperately clings to Lbe telephone as her on ly link to the man who has left her for someone else. Although thi s agonizing poruait of abandonment and despair bears lillie resemblance toAI.mod6var's multi·charactered comedic romp through the streets of Madrid in Mujeres 01 borde de lUi otaqlte de ne",ios [Women on the Verge of a Nervous Break· down ], Cocteau's play has been named as lhe source of inspiration for that film. In various imerviews Almod6var has explained that his originaJ intention had been to adapt the play to the screen, but due to its brevity, he needed 10 expand the material to feature film length.