"Why should I be so fate" is Almodóvar's fourth work, and it is also the key to his show of talent, establishment of style and success.
Looking at Almodovar's films, it can be seen that he does not reflect on the past or look to the future, but instead looks directly at the reality of his life. He puts his focus on today's Spain, he unscrupulously reveals the people and things around him, reflecting their emotions and desires. It is precisely because his films blend with the living reality that they have a huge charm. His films are not only accepted by Spain, but also by the world.
After Franco's death in 1975, Spanish society has undergone drastic changes. The film broke through the confinement of the past, and roared into a new world like a running water. When some directors scrambled to film subjects that were forbidden to be involved in Franco’s reign, such as reflection on history and reflection on the civil war (no doubt these films are of great significance), Almodóvar, who had just entered the film world, was keenly aware of some new things. Breath, this is the change in the values of Spanish youth. They no longer want to watch only the stories of their parents on the screen, but want to have their own movies. So Almodovar caught this and began to create "new Spanish women" in his films. He once said: "I always choose characters from contemporary Madrid... After Franco's death, the new generation stepped forward..." "Why should I be so fate" was produced in this context.
"Why should I be so fate" reflects Almodóvar's cynical thinking, and this kind of thinking precisely represents the concept of his contemporaries. Compared with his other films, this film has a breakthrough in reflecting reality. How to express the unpredictable world? How to reveal the subtle emotions of contemporary people? How to show the increasingly complex interpersonal relationship? This is a subject that Almodóvar is constantly exploring, and the above issues are also involved in this film.
This film has a relatively complete storyline, describing the daily life of the housewife Gloria and the development and changes of this life. As a daughter-in-law, wife, and mother, Gloria shoulders the burden of family life. She has to endure the infidelity and tyranny of her husband. She struggles hard and sees no hope, so she has to take sedative pills containing morphine every day. She sold her son to a gay doctor, and killed her husband in a rage... In Almodóvar’s film, the heroine is no longer a good wife and mother in a traditional melodrama, but has desires and boredom. People who dare to fight, have strengths and weaknesses. Almodovar does not describe and measure Gloria in the usual way of thinking, that is, "good people" and "bad people", so the audience can't analyze her with traditional concepts. Almodovar puts Gloria in a modern environment to express it, revealing Gloria's emotions and desires from a deep level. She is vulgar, ordinary, neurotic, and grumpy. She is a living person. Gloria created by Almodovar is not an abstract, conceptual, or idealized model, but has broad social significance.
Almodóvar described Gloria’s family in a social environment. The film involved drug abuse (Gloria’s eldest son sometimes took drugs and reselled drugs), prostitution (Gloria’s neighbor Krystal was a prostitute), Homosexuality (dentist), theft (the writer’s wife steals things), falsification (Antonio forges Hitler’s signature), murder (Gloria beats her husband to death), etc. Through this film, Almodovar cleverly presents the common problems that are common in Western society one by one. Although he did not analyze this, this presentation itself has a social critical meaning.
In terms of artistic aesthetics, Almodovar is influenced by Hollywood's traditional narrative techniques, focusing on narrative and appreciation. However, he is not sticking to the vulgar, and he has created a new realm in his works. This is evident in the scene where Gloria kills Antonio. From the beginning of the film, Almodovar laid the groundwork for this climax in multiple levels. First, the audience saw Gloria practicing stick strokes in the judo gym (later, she swung a ham bone stick and subconsciously used Japanese stick strokes. He cuts to Antonio’s head), then he described the conflict between Gloria and her husband; then he showed that Gloria was upset because she could not buy sedatives; after returning home because Ingrid and Antonio beat her, the two of them got together. Gloria beat her husband when she hit her hand, and when Antonio fell, she hit her head on a pile of plates and immediately died. In addition, Almodovar's treatment of the beginning is meticulously crafted to produce a breathtaking effect. At the end of the film, Gloria feels dim about the future. Although the youngest son returns to her, will her life improve? This ending breaks the pattern of reunion or tragedy.
"Why should I be so fate" has the characteristics of black humor, which shows the influence of some excellent Spanish films in the 1950s and 1960s on Almodóvar. Films such as "Placito" and "The Executioner" directed by the famous Spanish director Berlanga have a pungent mockery of social reality and are characterized by a strong "black humor". Almodóvar draws on the ironic and humorous artistic style used by the older generation of directors, and this humor reflects the extension and development of Spanish traditional culture in his works (some of the humor is Cervantes style). Almodóvar made a mockery of social reality in "Why Should I Fate That". While Gloria was working hard in the kitchen, a song called "You got a good pay" was playing on TV. Gloria's life has been frustrated repeatedly (including sex life), she has not received any pay, let alone a good pay. This kind of ridicule makes people feel social injustice and cruelty, and sympathizes with Gloria. American critic Martha Parley believes that Almodóvar "may be regarded as the most alive and humorous founder of today's film industry."
Traces of neo-realistic movies can also be seen in "Why Should I Fate That". Almodovar believes that his film has a certain connection with neo-realistic films. He once publicly admitted: "Why should I be so fate?" has a certain connection with those neo-realist films that I like...just like Like all neo-realist works, there is also a very obvious political attitude in my works. It is obvious who I am defending. The difference from traditional neo-realist works is that in this film Has more and stronger'black humor'. I defended the housewife. I treated her as a normal person, with advantages and disadvantages. She is the protagonist, and her shortcomings are caused by her living environment. She is a victim of her actions. In this sense, this film has a superficial and illusory neo-realism, and I am willing to mix it with neo-realism in appearance.” It is precisely because this film touches Spain. So some people refer to the film as a "new realist work in the 1980s".
Almodóvar is good at using exaggerated methods to explain the connotation of the film. He uses exaggerated methods to show the deep meanings that are difficult to express incisively and vividly, in order to arouse people's shock and thinking. In this film, there is a girl with supernatural powers, Vanessa, who is the object of her mother to vent her inner pain. In order to show resistance, she sometimes used power to get things to the ground and break them. On the surface, this exaggerated girl has little to do with the theme of the film, but after careful consideration, it is not difficult to find that Almodóvar borrowed this girl and wrote about the loneliness, loss of fatherly love, motherly love, and face. The mentality of revenge against the children of the cold world. This exaggerated surrealist technique precisely expresses the nature of people and the environment.
Almodóvar has directed a total of 9 films since the filming, some of which do not have a dominant consciousness and are only an objective display of the people and things shown. And "Why should I be so fate" deeply reflects the social reality of Spain, and clearly shows Almodovar's subjective wishes-sympathy for Gloria. When Gloria screamed with a club, the audience could clearly feel the pain in her heart. She seemed to be yelling: "What did I do? Why should I be fate?" This makes this film better than other films. This film has a wider social significance.
"Why should I be so fate" contains artistic elements of various types of films such as melodrama, popular comedy, black humor, and neorealism. Almodovar is good at combining the narrative techniques of various types of films. He once said: “It is difficult to shoot a very rigorous genre film at present, because it is a matter of situation and history...” Almodóvar’s film is a collage of multiple color blocks, which is dazzling. He thinks Only in this way can it reflect the subjective, multi-layered, and varied contemporary social life. Almodóvar calls his own method "hybrid". His "hybrid" strives to integrate the sociality of the theme, the appreciation of the story, and the perfection of art, giving people a refreshing feeling. .
Almodovar is also good at creating atmosphere with color and lighting, and deliberately pursues the exquisite composition of the picture. There are obvious "post-modern" image symbols in his films, which make the audience visually shocked. Almodóvar has now become another Spanish film director with world influence after Bunuel and Saura.
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