Ode to Pedro Almodóvar and his love for women in the kitchen

Almodóvar's women are glamorous

a flan from the movie Volver - directed by Almodóvar

I am a huge (HUGE) fan of the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who has directed Volver, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (must see this), All About my Mother, and many other fine films.

Almodóvar has a love for women that is genuine and complicated. His women are glamorous - see this picture of Penélope Cruz along with the woman who plays her sister and her sister's client. Also, his women suffer - such as the main character in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - who brings her lover's suitcase up and down the stairs while dealing with her emotions regarding "he loves me, he loves me not." His films address women in complicated situations - in All About My Mother, Penélope Cruz's character is a nun who becomes pregnant and is diagnosed with AIDS, but then her baby is reared by the main character who has lost her son recently in a car accident.

How this director relates to this blog is significant: In all of his films there is cooking. In Volver, the sisters visit an auntie in her village and she gives them rosquillas (wafer cookies) made by their mother, whom they do not know is still alive. Complicated, yes, but significant. Also there is a scene in the movie where the sisters are in the kitchen and one of them opens a newly made flan (custard) - see picture.

In All About My Mother, you see the main actress preparing a salad and chicken wings (or a facsimile thereof) for herself and her son. In Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the main actress is seen making gazpacho (tomato soup) for her lover, laced with barbituates.

I am a lover of food, and of fine film; both have been provided by Pedro Almodóvar.

There is only one thing to say now, which is:

"¡Viva Pedro!" (in our parlance - Long Live Pedro Almodóvar!)