Tacones lejanos
Encyclopedia
High Heels is a 1991
melodrama
film
written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar
and starring Marisa Paredes
, Victoria Abril
and Miguel Bosé
. The plot follows the fractured relationship between a self-involved mother who is a famous torch song singer and the grown daughter she had abandoned as a child. The daughter, who works as TV newscaster, has married her mother's ex-lover and has befriended a female impersonator. A murder further complicates this web of relationships.
The film has the feel of other mother-daughter melodramas like Stella Dallas
, Mildred Pierce
, Imitation of Life
and particularly Autumn Sonata
, which is quoted directly in the film.
Rebeca has since become a newsreader for a private television station owned by her husband Manuel. The reunion of mother and daughter is even tenser because Manuel was many years ago one of Becky’s lovers. The night of her return, Becky, Rebeca and Manuel have supper and then go out to see Letal, a female impersonator whose drag act is based on Becky. For sometime, Rebeca has been coming to see the show whenever she misses her mother. Backstage Rebeca helps Letal to remove his costume. Kneeling in front of him as she helps him undress she is impressed by his manliness. Letal takes advantage of the situation and they make love. Manuel, who no longer loves his wife, foolishly wants to sleep with Becky again and divorce Rebeca.
A month later Manuel is murdered in his villa. He had spent the evening first with his mistress Isabel, who is the sign language interpreter of Rebeca’s words on the news, and then with Becky who, having become his lover again has learnt he had another mistress and had come to announce it was over between them. It was Rebeca who discovered the body. The investigating magistrate, Judge Dominguez, centers his suspicions on the mother and daughter whose relationship he knows has not recovered since Rebeca found out Becky was seeing Manuel.
On the day of Manuel’s funeral, while reading the news of his death, Rebeca confesses to the murder live on television. She is immediately imprisoned but the investigating judge seems desperate to prove her innocence despite all the evidence. Becky makes her return to the Madrid stage while Rebeca spends her first night in prison. In jail, she listens on the radio to a triumphant Madrid concert performance of her mother who dedicates her first songs to her. Paula, the social worker, takes a special interest in Rebeca, like her, she is heartbroken, grieving the loss of Hugo, her boyfriend. A nude picture of Hugo that Paula carries with her makes Rebeca think that Letal and Hugo are the same person. The judge arranges for Becky to see her daughter, and Rebeca now denies the murder of Manuel. Mother and daughter confess to each other their lack of love, their jealousy, and their secrets. Rebeca draws a comparison between herself and the daughter in the film Autumn Sonata in which the girl’s mother, an outstanding pianist, asks her to play the piano and then humiliates her by telling her how to improve her performance. Rebeca suggests that she too has always felt inferior to Becky and has been forced to compete with her, winning only once by marrying Manuel. But even this victory was finally denied her, when Becky started an affair with Manuel. If Rebeca’s desire to be closer to Becky led her, fifteen years ago, to murder her stepfather, it also played some part in her murder of Manuel, whom she sees as ousting in her mother’s affection. The extent of Rebeca’s fixation and the limitlessness of her adoration are too much for Becky’s frail heart and her condition worsens. Back in prison, Rebeca discovers she is pregnant – carrying Letal’s child. At once, the Judge releases her from prison but without any fresh evidence.
Rebeca goes to see Letal’s final drag performance and in the dressing room discovers that he is the judge, Letal being one of the Judge’s disguises and Hugo being another. He explains that his dressing up was not more than an investigative strategy and, knowing about her pregnancy, asks her to marry him. As Rebeca struggles to take this in, they see a TV broadcast relating Becky’s sudden heart attack. They rush to the hospital. Rebeca confesses to her mother the murder of Manuel, and Becky decides to take the blame in order for her daughter to go free. Becky accuses herself of the murder and when she is taken home to die, Rebeca gives her the gun and Becky leaves her fingerprints on it, thereby incriminating herself and establishing Rebeca’s innocence. When Rebeca sees the high heels of the women passing in the street, she tells her mother the sound of the heels from a distance reminds her of her mother coming home when she was little. She turns around and realizes her mother has died while she was talking.
and Victoria Abril
. The male lead was difficult to cast. The actor had to be believable in drag and as a judge. The role eventually went to Miguel Bosé
, a famous singer in Spain
and Latin America
. His casting was a cause celebre of the film publicity.
among Almodóvar’s films released up to that point.
The reaction of Spanish critics to the film was, on the whole, hostile. Antonio Castro, writing in Dirigido por, felt that: Almodóvar’s desire to create a more straightforward narrative had merely led to a greater loss of vigor. Angel Fernandez Santos in El Pais, concluded that: in comparison with Douglas Sirk
’s Imitation of Life
, which he regarded as an Everest, High Heels was a mere hill. And in Expansión Eduardo Torres Dulce was firmly of the opinion that: Almodóvar had had his day. David Thomson
, in Sight and Sound, concluded that in general High Heels did not measure up to much of Almodóvar’s earlier work. For him the homage to the other films – including Autumn Sonata
– is counter productive, for it merely suggests the inferiority of High Heels.
High Heels was very successful in Italy
and reviews were both heartfelt and moving. In France
the film was a huge success. The film did less well in other countries, such as Germany
where Almodovar’s films have not been well understood. He commented "My films move very freely and to understand them one must simply allow one’s intuition and sensibility free rein… I’ve never been asked so many irrational questions as in Germany “.
High Heels was less successful in the United States
than many others of Almodóvar’s films. Like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
, High Heels was especially attacked on moral grounds, notably by certain women’s groups. Almodóvar also complained that Miramax, the distributor of the film in the U.S.A, did not understand the film and had no idea what to do with it.
The movie-review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes
lists a 64% favorable rating on its "Tomatometer" (based on 11 reviews). The aggregator Metacritic
lists a 51% favorable rating, (based on 12 published reviews). The New York Times
critic Janet Maslin
wrote that High Heels has no real mirth and not even enough energy to keep it lively. Critic Roger Ebert
said that "Pedro Almodóvar's films are an acquired taste, and with High Heels I am at last beginning to acquire it."
's film Distant Drums
(1951).
which could be conveniently be shot in Madrid. When he eventually made High Heels it was fundamentally different from his original idea. Only the title remained.
The plot was developed around the idea of someone confessing a crime on a live television news bulletin.
High Heels relates to the American tradition of melodrama and the so called Woman’s picture. Imitation of Life
(1959), directed by Douglas Sirk
, was a major influence and there are some striking parallels between High Heels and Sirk’s film. In both films, the mother is a performer – Becky a singer, the Lana Turner character in Sirk’s film an actress – whose career takes precedence over a young daughter; mother and daughter are rivals over a man; both films begin with the child separated from her mother at a holiday resort; and at one point Rebeca tells her mother to stop acting, a phrase borrowed from the Sirk’s film. Imitation of Life was both a remake and a reinterpretation of an earlier film – John M. Stahl
’s 1934 version
- so High Heels is very much Almodovar’s own film, distinguished throughout by his particular style and concerns.
With its tense mother- daughter dynamic High Heels also pointedly nods to Michael Curtiz
’s Mildred Pierce
(1945), though in that film it is the mother, a businesswoman, who obsessively loves her daughter. In Stella Dallas
(1937), directed by King Vidor
, the same kind of relationship is also prominent, thought here the mother, Stella, is neither artist nor businesswoman but a lower class woman who has social aspirations for her daughter.
High Heels alludes both to the films made by Lana Turner and Joan Crawford
and to their lives, to the relationship between Lana Turner, whose lover was killed by her daughter, and to the tumultuous relationship between Joan Crawford and her daughter Christina
.
, though its composite narrative (the poster image of a high-heeled shoe which is also a gun) testifies to the combination of two genres, melodrama
and crime thriller. The themes are typical of melodrama: family relations dominate the storyline as do relationships between men and women. The narrative charts the reuniting of a long-absent mother with her daughter and their competition over men (one man in particular) and over professional success. All the characters have secrets that the viewer knows. The omniscient narration, typical of melodrama, allows suspense only in terms of how other characters react to revelations the viewer anticipates. For example, Becky conceals her heart condition from her daughter, Rebeca conceals the truth about murdering her husband, and the judge conceals his triple identity as Letal, Hugo and Judge Dominguez.
Thirty-five minutes into the film, there is a murder, but the plot does not turn the film into an investigative narrative. The narrative follows the conflict between mother and daughter, not the crime investigator. It is clear that Letal is the judge and that Rebeca probably killed her husband. The investigative role of Judge Dominguez is further undermined by the fact that his motivation is love for the murderess Rebeca rather than solving the crime.
. It was composed by Agustín Lara
and sang by Lola Beltrán
. The director eventually chose a version by Chavela Vargas
, sung as a lament. Un Año de amor, which Letal sings in playback during his show, is a French song by Nino Ferrer
. There is a famous Italian version sung by Mina
. Almodóvar rewrote the lyrics in Spanish.
Once the two songs were chosen Almodóvar had to find a voice that suited Becky del Páramo. After trying several voices, he found Luz Casal
's fitted Marisa Paredes
appearance. Luz Casal, famous in Spain as a rock singer, accepted and the two songs became her biggest hits.
High Heels also contains an unexpected prison yard dance sequence that makes reference to the famous musicals shot in fake prisons like Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley
and John Waters
’ Cry-Baby
. The song used in that scene is a merengue
: Pecadora by Los Hermanos Rosario
.
The score, which Almodóvar did not like, was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto
. For the title sequence and Rebeca’s second confession in High Heels, Almodóvar used pieces composed by Miles Davis
in the Sixties, that were inspired by Flamenco
. The first piece, heard while Rebeca is alone waiting for her mother, is called Solea, meaning solitude in Andalusian. After her second confession to judge Dominguez, when Rebeca goes to the cemetery to throw a handful of earth on her husband’s coffin, we hear the second piece, Saeta, by Gil Evans
, from his Sketches of Spain
.
Almodóvar also used two themes composed by George Fenton
for Dangerous Liaisons
. They are heard when Rebeca leaves prison and goes home and when she returns to prison in the van.
). The film won :
.
Rebeca: I love you very much, mother.
Becky: I was afraid you hated me.
Rebeca: I hated you sometimes, but even then, I did not stop loving you.
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
and starring Marisa Paredes
Marisa Paredes
María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé, , better known in show business as Marisa Paredes, is a Spanish actress.-Biography:...
, Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
and Miguel Bosé
Miguel Bosé
Miguel Dominguín Bosé is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish/Italian musician and actor.-Early life:Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of the famous Italian actress Lucia Bosé and the legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín. He is also a cousin of Carmen...
. The plot follows the fractured relationship between a self-involved mother who is a famous torch song singer and the grown daughter she had abandoned as a child. The daughter, who works as TV newscaster, has married her mother's ex-lover and has befriended a female impersonator. A murder further complicates this web of relationships.
The film has the feel of other mother-daughter melodramas like Stella Dallas
Stella Dallas (1937 film)
Stella Dallas is a 1937 film based on the Olive Higgins Prouty novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor, and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. Stanwyck was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Shirley for Best Actress in a Supporting Role...
, Mildred Pierce
Mildred Pierce (film)
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941...
, Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
and particularly Autumn Sonata
Autumn Sonata
Autumn Sonata is a 1978 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann and Lena Nyman. It tells the story of a celebrated classical pianist who is confronted by her neglected daughter...
, which is quoted directly in the film.
Plot
Rebeca, a TV news broadcaster, is at Madrid’s airport anxiously awaiting the return of her mother whom she has not seen since she was a child. Her mother, Becky del Páramo, a famous torch song singer, is coming back to Spain after a fifteen-year stay in Mexico. While waiting, Rebeca recalls incidents from her childhood in which her mother let her in the background of her life preoccupied with her career and her romantic life. For fifteen years Rebeca has longed for her mother to come back and for the love and affection of which she had been deprived. Nevertheless, her love is accompanied by a deep resentment.Rebeca has since become a newsreader for a private television station owned by her husband Manuel. The reunion of mother and daughter is even tenser because Manuel was many years ago one of Becky’s lovers. The night of her return, Becky, Rebeca and Manuel have supper and then go out to see Letal, a female impersonator whose drag act is based on Becky. For sometime, Rebeca has been coming to see the show whenever she misses her mother. Backstage Rebeca helps Letal to remove his costume. Kneeling in front of him as she helps him undress she is impressed by his manliness. Letal takes advantage of the situation and they make love. Manuel, who no longer loves his wife, foolishly wants to sleep with Becky again and divorce Rebeca.
A month later Manuel is murdered in his villa. He had spent the evening first with his mistress Isabel, who is the sign language interpreter of Rebeca’s words on the news, and then with Becky who, having become his lover again has learnt he had another mistress and had come to announce it was over between them. It was Rebeca who discovered the body. The investigating magistrate, Judge Dominguez, centers his suspicions on the mother and daughter whose relationship he knows has not recovered since Rebeca found out Becky was seeing Manuel.
On the day of Manuel’s funeral, while reading the news of his death, Rebeca confesses to the murder live on television. She is immediately imprisoned but the investigating judge seems desperate to prove her innocence despite all the evidence. Becky makes her return to the Madrid stage while Rebeca spends her first night in prison. In jail, she listens on the radio to a triumphant Madrid concert performance of her mother who dedicates her first songs to her. Paula, the social worker, takes a special interest in Rebeca, like her, she is heartbroken, grieving the loss of Hugo, her boyfriend. A nude picture of Hugo that Paula carries with her makes Rebeca think that Letal and Hugo are the same person. The judge arranges for Becky to see her daughter, and Rebeca now denies the murder of Manuel. Mother and daughter confess to each other their lack of love, their jealousy, and their secrets. Rebeca draws a comparison between herself and the daughter in the film Autumn Sonata in which the girl’s mother, an outstanding pianist, asks her to play the piano and then humiliates her by telling her how to improve her performance. Rebeca suggests that she too has always felt inferior to Becky and has been forced to compete with her, winning only once by marrying Manuel. But even this victory was finally denied her, when Becky started an affair with Manuel. If Rebeca’s desire to be closer to Becky led her, fifteen years ago, to murder her stepfather, it also played some part in her murder of Manuel, whom she sees as ousting in her mother’s affection. The extent of Rebeca’s fixation and the limitlessness of her adoration are too much for Becky’s frail heart and her condition worsens. Back in prison, Rebeca discovers she is pregnant – carrying Letal’s child. At once, the Judge releases her from prison but without any fresh evidence.
Rebeca goes to see Letal’s final drag performance and in the dressing room discovers that he is the judge, Letal being one of the Judge’s disguises and Hugo being another. He explains that his dressing up was not more than an investigative strategy and, knowing about her pregnancy, asks her to marry him. As Rebeca struggles to take this in, they see a TV broadcast relating Becky’s sudden heart attack. They rush to the hospital. Rebeca confesses to her mother the murder of Manuel, and Becky decides to take the blame in order for her daughter to go free. Becky accuses herself of the murder and when she is taken home to die, Rebeca gives her the gun and Becky leaves her fingerprints on it, thereby incriminating herself and establishing Rebeca’s innocence. When Rebeca sees the high heels of the women passing in the street, she tells her mother the sound of the heels from a distance reminds her of her mother coming home when she was little. She turns around and realizes her mother has died while she was talking.
Cast
High Heels was an interpretative tour de force for two essential actresses of the 'Almodovarian universe': Marisa ParedesMarisa Paredes
María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé, , better known in show business as Marisa Paredes, is a Spanish actress.-Biography:...
and Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
. The male lead was difficult to cast. The actor had to be believable in drag and as a judge. The role eventually went to Miguel Bosé
Miguel Bosé
Miguel Dominguín Bosé is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish/Italian musician and actor.-Early life:Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of the famous Italian actress Lucia Bosé and the legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín. He is also a cousin of Carmen...
, a famous singer in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. His casting was a cause celebre of the film publicity.
- Victoria Abril – Rebeca
- Marisa Paredes – Becky del Páramo
- Miguel Bosé – Letal, Judge Dominguez, Hugo
- Féodor Atkine – Manuel
- Miriam Díaz Aroca – Isabel
- Anna Lizarán – Margarita
- Bibiana Fernández – Chon
- Cristina MarcosCristina MarcosCristina Marcos is a Spanish actress. She has appeared in over 35 films and television shows since 1981. She starred in the 1981 film Maravillas, which was entered into the 31st Berlin International Film Festival....
– Paula - Pedro Diez del Corral – Alberto (Rebeca’s stepfather)
- Mayrata O'Wisiedo – Judge's Mother
- Nacho Martínez – Juan (Rebeca’s father)
- Rocío Muñoz – Rebeca as a child
Reception
High Heels, Almodóvar’s ninth film, was co-produced by El Deseo and Ciby 2000 and was released in Spain in October 1991. It was enormously successful in Spain. By the end of 1991, it had attracted an audience of more than 1.5 million, and eventually it came second in terms of box-office takings to Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownWomen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas...
among Almodóvar’s films released up to that point.
The reaction of Spanish critics to the film was, on the whole, hostile. Antonio Castro, writing in Dirigido por, felt that: Almodóvar’s desire to create a more straightforward narrative had merely led to a greater loss of vigor. Angel Fernandez Santos in El Pais, concluded that: in comparison with Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
’s Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
, which he regarded as an Everest, High Heels was a mere hill. And in Expansión Eduardo Torres Dulce was firmly of the opinion that: Almodóvar had had his day. David Thomson
David Thomson (film critic)
David Thomson is a film critic and historian based in the United States and the author of more than 20 books, including The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.-Career:...
, in Sight and Sound, concluded that in general High Heels did not measure up to much of Almodóvar’s earlier work. For him the homage to the other films – including Autumn Sonata
Autumn Sonata
Autumn Sonata is a 1978 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann and Lena Nyman. It tells the story of a celebrated classical pianist who is confronted by her neglected daughter...
– is counter productive, for it merely suggests the inferiority of High Heels.
High Heels was very successful in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and reviews were both heartfelt and moving. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
the film was a huge success. The film did less well in other countries, such as Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
where Almodovar’s films have not been well understood. He commented "My films move very freely and to understand them one must simply allow one’s intuition and sensibility free rein… I’ve never been asked so many irrational questions as in Germany “.
High Heels was less successful in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
than many others of Almodóvar’s films. Like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! is a 1990 Spanish film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, a dark romantic comedy starring Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril. The plot follows a recently released psychiatric patient who kidnaps an actress in order to make her fall in love with him...
, High Heels was especially attacked on moral grounds, notably by certain women’s groups. Almodóvar also complained that Miramax, the distributor of the film in the U.S.A, did not understand the film and had no idea what to do with it.
The movie-review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
lists a 64% favorable rating on its "Tomatometer" (based on 11 reviews). The aggregator Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
lists a 51% favorable rating, (based on 12 published reviews). The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
critic Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
wrote that High Heels has no real mirth and not even enough energy to keep it lively. Critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
said that "Pedro Almodóvar's films are an acquired taste, and with High Heels I am at last beginning to acquire it."
Title
The original title of the film is Tacones Lejanos, which can be translated as Distant Heels and refers to Rebeca’s childhood, when she was unable to sleep until her mother entered her bedroom and Rebeca was able to hear the sound of her mother's heels as she left, walking down the hallway. The inaccuracy of the English translation of the title affected the reception of the film, as the English High Heels suggests stylish comedy, whereas the Spanish Distant Heels conveys a feeling of family melodrama. The Spanish title Distant Heels is a reference to Raoul WalshRaoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
's film Distant Drums
Distant Drums
Distant Drums is a 1951 film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Gary Cooper. It is set during the Second Seminole War in the 1840s, with Cooper playing an Army captain who destroys a fort held by the Seminole Indians then retreats into the Everglades while under chase.The actual location of the...
(1951).
Analysis
The film High Heels which Almodovar eventually made was not the one he had intended to make after the completion of Law of Desire in 1986. That film would have been a variation on Garcia Lorca’s classic play The House of Bernarda Alba and would have been set in rural Spain, not in Madrid. The story would have involved a domineering mother and her two daughters, both of whom leave home in order to escape her tyranny. The mother is subsequently thought to have perished in a fire but continues to pursue one of the girls for fifteen years. The proposed film did not come to fruition for a variety of reason. Almodovar turned instead to Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownWomen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas...
which could be conveniently be shot in Madrid. When he eventually made High Heels it was fundamentally different from his original idea. Only the title remained.
The plot was developed around the idea of someone confessing a crime on a live television news bulletin.
High Heels relates to the American tradition of melodrama and the so called Woman’s picture. Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
(1959), directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
, was a major influence and there are some striking parallels between High Heels and Sirk’s film. In both films, the mother is a performer – Becky a singer, the Lana Turner character in Sirk’s film an actress – whose career takes precedence over a young daughter; mother and daughter are rivals over a man; both films begin with the child separated from her mother at a holiday resort; and at one point Rebeca tells her mother to stop acting, a phrase borrowed from the Sirk’s film. Imitation of Life was both a remake and a reinterpretation of an earlier film – John M. Stahl
John M. Stahl
John Malcolm Stahl was an American film director and producer.Born in New York City, New York, he began working in the city's growing motion picture industry at a young age and directed his first silent film short in 1914. In the early 1920s Stahl signed on with Louis B...
’s 1934 version
Imitation of Life (1934 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1934 American drama film directed by John M. Stahl. The screenplay by William Hurlbut, based on Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name, was augmented by eight additional uncredited writers, including Preston Sturges and Finley Peter Dunne...
- so High Heels is very much Almodovar’s own film, distinguished throughout by his particular style and concerns.
With its tense mother- daughter dynamic High Heels also pointedly nods to Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
’s Mildred Pierce
Mildred Pierce (film)
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941...
(1945), though in that film it is the mother, a businesswoman, who obsessively loves her daughter. In Stella Dallas
Stella Dallas (1937 film)
Stella Dallas is a 1937 film based on the Olive Higgins Prouty novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor, and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. Stanwyck was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Shirley for Best Actress in a Supporting Role...
(1937), directed by King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
, the same kind of relationship is also prominent, thought here the mother, Stella, is neither artist nor businesswoman but a lower class woman who has social aspirations for her daughter.
High Heels alludes both to the films made by Lana Turner and Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
and to their lives, to the relationship between Lana Turner, whose lover was killed by her daughter, and to the tumultuous relationship between Joan Crawford and her daughter Christina
Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.-Early life and education:...
.
Genre
High Heels is a melodramaMelodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, though its composite narrative (the poster image of a high-heeled shoe which is also a gun) testifies to the combination of two genres, melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
and crime thriller. The themes are typical of melodrama: family relations dominate the storyline as do relationships between men and women. The narrative charts the reuniting of a long-absent mother with her daughter and their competition over men (one man in particular) and over professional success. All the characters have secrets that the viewer knows. The omniscient narration, typical of melodrama, allows suspense only in terms of how other characters react to revelations the viewer anticipates. For example, Becky conceals her heart condition from her daughter, Rebeca conceals the truth about murdering her husband, and the judge conceals his triple identity as Letal, Hugo and Judge Dominguez.
Thirty-five minutes into the film, there is a murder, but the plot does not turn the film into an investigative narrative. The narrative follows the conflict between mother and daughter, not the crime investigator. It is clear that Letal is the judge and that Rebeca probably killed her husband. The investigative role of Judge Dominguez is further undermined by the fact that his motivation is love for the murderess Rebeca rather than solving the crime.
Soundtrack
The combined effects of voice, music and lyrics is one of the most prominent features of Almodóvar as a filmmaker. The director finds his most significant musical economy in the highly expressive boleros, which are at the forefront in this film. Almodóvar explained that he listened to an enormous number of songs to find those he used in the film. He finally chose Piensa en Mi and Un año De Amor. His idea was to find songs that would correspond to a singer such as Becky del Paramo both at the start and at the end of her career. Piensa en Mi is a very famous song in MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It was composed by Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Biography:Lara was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Later, the Lara family had to move again to Mexico City, establishing their house in the borough of Coyoacán. After Lara's mother died, Agustín and his siblings lived in a hospice run by their...
and sang by Lola Beltrán
Lola Beltrán
Lola Beltrán was a Mexican film actress and one of the most acclaimed Mexican ranchera singers, nicknamed Lola la Grande .-Biography:...
. The director eventually chose a version by Chavela Vargas
Chavela Vargas
Isabel Vargas Lizano is a Costa Rican-born Mexican singer. She is especially known for her rendition of Mexican rancheras genre - a folkloric musical genre widely popular in Mexico - but she is also recognized for her contribution to other popular Latin American song genres...
, sung as a lament. Un Año de amor, which Letal sings in playback during his show, is a French song by Nino Ferrer
Nino Ferrer
Nino Ferrer was a famous French – Italian singer, actor and jazz musician.- From prehistory to jazz :...
. There is a famous Italian version sung by Mina
Mina (singer)
Anna Maria Quaini, Grand Officer , known as Mina, is an Italian pop singer. She was a staple of Italian television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an...
. Almodóvar rewrote the lyrics in Spanish.
Once the two songs were chosen Almodóvar had to find a voice that suited Becky del Páramo. After trying several voices, he found Luz Casal
Luz Casal
Luz Casal, born November 11, 1958 at Boimorto, is a Spanish pop singer. She grew up in neighbouring Asturias, took singing, piano and ballet classes, and moved to Madrid to pursue a career as a musician....
's fitted Marisa Paredes
Marisa Paredes
María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé, , better known in show business as Marisa Paredes, is a Spanish actress.-Biography:...
appearance. Luz Casal, famous in Spain as a rock singer, accepted and the two songs became her biggest hits.
High Heels also contains an unexpected prison yard dance sequence that makes reference to the famous musicals shot in fake prisons like Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
’ Cry-Baby
Cry-Baby
Cry-Baby is a 1990 American teen musical film written and directed by John Waters. It stars Johnny Depp as 1950s teen rebel "Cry-Baby" Wade Walker, and also features an expansive ensemble cast that includes Amy Locane, Iggy Pop, Traci Lords, Ricki Lake, Kim McGuire, David Nelson, Susan Tyrrell, and...
. The song used in that scene is a merengue
Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...
: Pecadora by Los Hermanos Rosario
Los Hermanos Rosario
Los Hermanos Rosario is a merengue music band, originally consisting of brothers Toño Rosario, Pepe, Rafa and Luis.-History:...
.
The score, which Almodóvar did not like, was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
. For the title sequence and Rebeca’s second confession in High Heels, Almodóvar used pieces composed by Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
in the Sixties, that were inspired by Flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
. The first piece, heard while Rebeca is alone waiting for her mother, is called Solea, meaning solitude in Andalusian. After her second confession to judge Dominguez, when Rebeca goes to the cemetery to throw a handful of earth on her husband’s coffin, we hear the second piece, Saeta, by Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, from his Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City....
.
Almodóvar also used two themes composed by George Fenton
George Fenton
George Fenton is a British composer best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, although he also writes music for the theatre. His real name is George Howe but he is better known by his pseudonym of George Fenton.-Selected film and television credits:Fenton has composed...
for Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 drama film based upon Christopher Hampton's play, Les liaisons dangereuses, which in turn was a theatrical adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos....
. They are heard when Rebeca leaves prison and goes home and when she returns to prison in the van.
Awards
High Heels received Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and Goya Award nominations for Costume Design, Editing, Make-Up and Hairstyles, Sound and Supporting Actress (Cristina MarcosCristina Marcos
Cristina Marcos is a Spanish actress. She has appeared in over 35 films and television shows since 1981. She starred in the 1981 film Maravillas, which was entered into the 31st Berlin International Film Festival....
). The film won :
- 1991 César AwardCésar AwardThe César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
as Best Foreign Language Film - 1992 Sant Jordi Award—Best Spanish Actress
DVD release
High Heels has been released on DVD in region 2. It is not available on DVD in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Quotes
Becky: Do you still love me a little?Rebeca: I love you very much, mother.
Becky: I was afraid you hated me.
Rebeca: I hated you sometimes, but even then, I did not stop loving you.