The monastery of holy madness
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The monastery of holy madness |
| Original title | Entre tinieblas |
| Country of production | Spain |
| original language | Spanish |
| Publishing year | 1983 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Pedro Almodovar |
| script | Pedro Almodovar |
| production | Luis Calvo |
| music | Miguel Morales |
| camera | Ángel Luis Fernández |
| cut | José Salcedo |
| occupation | |
| |
The Monastery of Holy Madness (orig .: Entre tinieblas , literally: In the midst of darknesses ) is a comedy film by Pedro Almodóvar , who also wrote the screenplay, from 1983.
action
After her boyfriend's drug death, the nightclub singer Yolanda, who is also a drug addict, seeks refuge in a monastery. The few in this monastery have made it their business to look after the fallen girls, but they have strange names and very idiosyncratic behavior: Sister street rat writes pulp novels under a pseudonym with titles like "Sinful flesh and wild nights" , Sister Chaos keeps the adult tiger "Eros" as a pet, Sister Kot spends her LSD trips as heavenly visions and sleeps on a bed of nails, and another sister constantly sews new clothes for the Holy Virgin and is in love with the chain-smoking chaplain, the For her sake learned to sew. The Mother Superior has developed a bizarre understanding of faith. She is not only a drug addict, but also a lesbian and Yolanda, who is greeted by her like a savior on arrival, seems hopeless at first sight.
The monastery has been in financial distress since the Marquis, a former patron whose daughter found refuge in the monastery, died and his stingy widow stopped making payments. In addition, there are hardly any “fallen girls” who want to be “saved” and only seek refuge for one night at the most. The Mother Superior hopes that Yolanda will give her new opportunities and allows her to stay in the former room of the Marquis’s daughter, who has since disappeared in Africa. She wants to generate additional income through a letter that the superior of the Marquesa intends to sell with blackmail because it provides information about the daughter's fate, as well as through planned drug transports on behalf of external dealers.
During the celebrations for Mother Superior's name day , to which the abbess of the motherhouse is invited, Yolanda sings in highly erotic poses in honor of the superior, but at the same time lets it be seen that she leaves the superior's desires cold. She hands the Marquesa the letter stolen from the superior's room, which reports the daughter's death, and secretly leaves the convent. The abbess, who is appalled by the conditions in the monastery, dissolves it. The sisters go on a mission, to another monastery or back to a worldly life. The Mother Superior, who intended to found a new order after her drug delivery trip to Thailand , breaks down crying when she sees that Yolanda has left.
reception
For the film service, The Monastery of the Holy Madness is an “ extremely boring early comedy by Pedro Almodovar, which presents its confused story as a string of flat jokes and bad taste ”, but “ does not achieve the provocative nature or the directorial qualities of his later films ”.
The magazine Prisma describes the film as a “ rough farce ”, which is “ not exactly tasty, but for that very reason it is extremely entertaining ”.
The art historian and media scientist Ulrich Blanché writes: “First and foremost, the film reveals the relationships of dependency and entanglement of the six protagonists. The Spanish production has many melodramatic moments and is also extremely entertaining. The camera's gaze is almost documentarily distant. First and foremost, Almodóvar does not want to show the church's double standards, rather it is about human dependencies in general. He does not show women cynical and angry, but always humanly erring [...] with all their beautiful, terrifying and funny sides, without exposing them morally. "
Awards
Julieta Serrano won the Sant Jordi Award for Best Spanish Leading Actress in 1984 for her role as Mother Superior and was nominated for Best Leading Actress for the Fotogramas de Plata that same year . She plays Lucía in Almodóvar's later film " Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown ".
background
The film was shot in Madrid. Almodóvar and his brother Agustín appear in minor supporting roles.
Web links
- Dark Habits in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Monastery of Holy Madness in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on January 12, 2009
- ↑ The monastery of holy madness on prisma-online.de , accessed on January 12, 2009
- ↑ Entertaining melodrama by Pedro Almodóvar on filmreporter.de
- ↑ Awards for The Monastery of Holy Madness on imdb.com , accessed January 12, 2009
- ↑ Filming locations of The Monastery of Holy Madness on imdb.com , accessed on January 12, 2009
- ↑ Full cast of The Monastery of the Holy Madness on imdb.com , accessed January 12, 2009