Bad Education, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's comedy/ film noir, delights in being outrageous, thumbing its nose at mainstream conventions with its explicit depictions of gay sexuality and egotistical power plays. Featuring stories within stories, the film is set in 1980 with flashbacks to 1964 and 1977 and, like many of the director's previous films, depicts characters undergoing a crisis of identity.
Ignacio Rodriguez (Gael García Bernal), is an out-of-work actor who visits Enrique Goded (Fele Martínez), a successful film director, and recalls their relationship when they both attended Catholic school as young children. Although they haven't seen each other in sixteen years, their reaction is immediate. When Ignacio, who asks to be called Ángel, hands Enrique a story called "The Visit" based on his experience of their school days, Enrique believes he may have found the script for his next film.
The story describes the bond between Ignacio and Enrique --their shared experience of the unwanted overtures of the Catholic priest Father Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). In a fantasy sequence, flashbacks return us to the Catholic school and we see Ignacio and Enrique in the first blush of sexual attraction as they hold and do other activities with their hands in a movie theater, in a scene that is as unnecessary as it is exploitative. The priest, a literature professor, is clearly attracted to young Ignacio, and when he finds the two boys together in the bathroom, he expels Enrique, presumably so he can have Ignacio to himself. The story also recounts Ignacio's later life as Zahara, a drug addicted drag queen working at a local club who picks up the adult Enrique as a trick and later attempts to blackmail Father Manolo for one million dollars.
Ignacio insists that he play the role of Zahara in the film, but Enrique tells him that he is not right for the part. When Ignacio withdraws the offer to film his story, Enrique begins to have doubts about his visitor and investigates his past, discovering that he is not who he pretends to be. Having won the coveted role of Zahara, however, Ángel becomes Enrique's friend and lover. The second half of the film becomes darker and more convoluted as Almodóvar attempts to emulate film noir conventions and the film degenerates into sordid melodrama.
The popular Mexican actor García Bernal is dressed in drag for much of the film and is displayed in many sexually alluring poses throughout its running time. I am not easily offended by explicit sexuality on the screen, whether gay or straight, yet without any conversation, a touch of romance, or other hallmarks of our humanity, it seemed distasteful. As in Talk to Her, Almodóvar attempts to poeticize irresponsible behavior and to shock us into awareness of the outer limits of the human condition. Yet the fact that the priest is not shown attempting to molest the boys (and in fact gets off rather easy) does not allow us to connect the trauma of the school years with the madness of the present day, and the resultant anti-social behavior has little impact.
In Bad Education, Almodóvar has given us a very personal film, one that he claims to be autobiographical, expect for specific details. It is stylish and playfully seductive and can be fun, yet for me it will almost certainly be considered a minor work. I found the characters neither interesting nor likable, all acting like ten-year olds in perpetuity. The first hour of the film is engaging and Mr. Bernal is a talented actor, but at the end I was left wondering what the purpose of all of it was. While the subject is a serious one and demands serious treatment, Bad Education treats it in a manner that is flippant and unsatisfying.
Ignacio Rodriguez (Gael García Bernal), is an out-of-work actor who visits Enrique Goded (Fele Martínez), a successful film director, and recalls their relationship when they both attended Catholic school as young children. Although they haven't seen each other in sixteen years, their reaction is immediate. When Ignacio, who asks to be called Ángel, hands Enrique a story called "The Visit" based on his experience of their school days, Enrique believes he may have found the script for his next film.
The story describes the bond between Ignacio and Enrique --their shared experience of the unwanted overtures of the Catholic priest Father Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). In a fantasy sequence, flashbacks return us to the Catholic school and we see Ignacio and Enrique in the first blush of sexual attraction as they hold and do other activities with their hands in a movie theater, in a scene that is as unnecessary as it is exploitative. The priest, a literature professor, is clearly attracted to young Ignacio, and when he finds the two boys together in the bathroom, he expels Enrique, presumably so he can have Ignacio to himself. The story also recounts Ignacio's later life as Zahara, a drug addicted drag queen working at a local club who picks up the adult Enrique as a trick and later attempts to blackmail Father Manolo for one million dollars.
Ignacio insists that he play the role of Zahara in the film, but Enrique tells him that he is not right for the part. When Ignacio withdraws the offer to film his story, Enrique begins to have doubts about his visitor and investigates his past, discovering that he is not who he pretends to be. Having won the coveted role of Zahara, however, Ángel becomes Enrique's friend and lover. The second half of the film becomes darker and more convoluted as Almodóvar attempts to emulate film noir conventions and the film degenerates into sordid melodrama.
The popular Mexican actor García Bernal is dressed in drag for much of the film and is displayed in many sexually alluring poses throughout its running time. I am not easily offended by explicit sexuality on the screen, whether gay or straight, yet without any conversation, a touch of romance, or other hallmarks of our humanity, it seemed distasteful. As in Talk to Her, Almodóvar attempts to poeticize irresponsible behavior and to shock us into awareness of the outer limits of the human condition. Yet the fact that the priest is not shown attempting to molest the boys (and in fact gets off rather easy) does not allow us to connect the trauma of the school years with the madness of the present day, and the resultant anti-social behavior has little impact.
In Bad Education, Almodóvar has given us a very personal film, one that he claims to be autobiographical, expect for specific details. It is stylish and playfully seductive and can be fun, yet for me it will almost certainly be considered a minor work. I found the characters neither interesting nor likable, all acting like ten-year olds in perpetuity. The first hour of the film is engaging and Mr. Bernal is a talented actor, but at the end I was left wondering what the purpose of all of it was. While the subject is a serious one and demands serious treatment, Bad Education treats it in a manner that is flippant and unsatisfying.