Steve McQueen names his favourite Pedro Almodóvar movie: “A contemplative triumph”
The British film director Sir Steve McQueen boasts the rare achievement of being one of the few filmmakers to have been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. After studying fine art in his early days, McQueen eventually turned his talents to feature film, marking the beginning of an excellent career in the industry.
The first foray McQueen made into movies came in 2008 with Hunger, an examination of the 1981 Irish hunger strike. He then followed up with the drama Shame, looking at sex addiction, and eventually won the Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’ for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave.
Simply, McQueen is a unique director in every sense, with several of his works being inspired by his background in fine art and his studying of the visual greats. That being said, McQueen is also in admiration of his fellow filmmakers, particularly the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.
McQueen could not help but find similarities in Almodóvar’s work with his fellow European filmmakers Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman. The reason is that they all “continuously displayed their ability to fuse their own lives and art, taking elements from their personal experiences and creating a world with rich and complicated characters.”
The director believes that Almodóvar’s best movie and expression of his talent comes in his 2019 movie, telling Variety, “Nowhere has Almodovar’s talent as a director been put to such excellent use as in Pain and Glory. Clearly his most personal and best film to date, it is a contemplative triumph, rich and elegant yet intimate and subtle.”
Pain and Glory stars Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia and Penelope Cruz, among others, and tells of a Spanish film director in poor physical and mental health. He begins to reflect on his early days in terms of his artistry and personal relationships.
Or as McQueen puts it: “The story of the pain and glory of a celebrated filmmaker whose present circumstances force him to confront his early life as well as his relationships, personal and professional. We experience what it is to dedicate yourself to your art and the sacrifices and exploration into your inner-self it takes to create revealing, interesting and original work.”
McQueen admires Almodóvar’s ability to “effortlessly” examine love and loss with a “masterful use of colours and powerful aesthetic choices”.
He said: “But it’s the melancholic remembrance of past loves, desires and torment that ultimately delivers a vivifying hopefulness without a hint of sentimentality.”
Antonio Banderas’ performance as the director Salvador Mallo is also particularly impressive to McQueen, which he called “sublime and committed”, though it is heightened by “his fellow actors’ own longtime relationship with the director”, all of whom give “memorable performances”.
Check out the trailer for Pain and Glory below.
