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Films  ›  Pedro Almodóvar

Bad Education (2004)

Film
DirectorPedro Almodóvar
Meta takes4

Figures

Characters
  • The character of Ángel/Juan as an embodiment of Almodóvar's authorial persona
  • The character of Zahara → The Performed Self
Form & technique
  • The film's nested narrative structure (story-within-a-story)
  • The film's visual and narrative tropes (femme fatale, convoluted plot, dark lighting)
  • The recurring and saturated use of the color red → Chromatic Symbolism
  • Alberto Iglesias's musical score → The Sonic Calling Card
  • The final scene revealing Sr. Berenguer's murder of Juan
Tropes
  • Zahara's drag performance of "Quizás, quizás, quizás"
  • The depiction of clerical abuse in the Catholic school
  • The doubling and substitution of characters (Ignacio for Ángel/Juan)
  • The act of writing and filmmaking as a therapeutic process for Enrique
  • The film's use of heightened emotion, dramatic twists, and focus on victimhood → The Melodramatic Mode
  • The film-within-the-film, "La Visita"
  • The film's confrontation with the legacy of the Catholic Church in Spain
  • Sr. Berenguer's blackmail of Zahara

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