Passionate Dissidence. Queer Desire of Pedro Almodóvar’s Cinema in Strange Way Of Life (2023)

Abstract

Passion and desire are some of the first words that someone may think of when thinking about Pedro Almodóvar's filmography, as well as homosexuals, transvestites, the color red, Chus Lampreave or telephones. Pedro Almodóvar is traditionally recognized as one of the drivers of queer visibility in Spanish cinema through his films since the beginning of his career. The golden shower of Alaska in Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980), the complete nude of Bibi Andersen in Kika (1993) or the transvestism of Miguel Bosé in High Heels (1999) with some of the examples that are found in the filmography of Pedro Almodóvar which, far from being limited to the representation of homosexual characters, delves into a wide range of sexual-affective dissidence. His latest production to date, the medium-length film Strange Way of Life (2023), starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, was released in theaters at the end of May 2023 after passing through the Cannes Festival and that same year it became the highest-grossing short in the history of Spanish cinema. The medium-length film, conceived as a supposed response to Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005), addresses the reunion between two old lovers in a sea of ​​intersectionalities such as sexual identity, power, love and aging. Apparently there are no visibly queer scenes in this western, if we look at the optics. That is why the existence of a queer text in the medium-length film will be studied through a haptic look. This study thus delves into a haptic approach, where the tactile sensory plane is erected above the visual one. This stylistic choice results in a conscious ellipsis of explicit sex, allowing for a deeper dive into the characters' emotions and exploration of desire. Almodóvar, known for his transition from optical representations to a deeper reflection on emotions and desire in his filmography, shows a conscious shift towards more reflective cinematography.