About the Film
In Pedro Almodóvar's Pain and Glory, the masterful Antonio Banderas delivers the best performance of his career, justifiably winning the Best Actor Award at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.
In an extremely personal film, Almodóvar mixes autobiography with fiction, which is perhaps why Banderas’ stellar portrayal of the character shouldn’t come as a surprise.
After all, the protagonist, Salvador Mallo—an ageing film director struggling with a creative block—is partly yet transparently inspired by Banderas’ long-time friend and collaborator, Almodóvar himself.
In Pain and Glory, Banderas beautifully and heartbreakingly portrays Almodóvar’s Salvador Mallo; he is ageing, and just like biology ensues, his body is failing him. Living in a big apartment alone with his memories and inner demons, none of his physical ailments compares to his mental anguish. Mallo fears that his best work is behind him, and believes that without filmmaking, he amounts to nothing. As Mallo tumbles on in the midst of his vulnerability, melancholia and regret, his mind leads him to seek different, and somewhat radical, ways to alleviate the pain. He surrenders to his thoughts as they drive him through a journey of revisiting, back to a vivid, vibrant past; in a quest to have closure for his relationships, make sense of the events of his life, and possibly, find peace.
In a non-linear narrative approach, the film blends—in an almost Felliniesque fashion— the past with the present, memory with nostalgia, and fiction with reality. Coupled with Alberto Iglesias’ brilliant score that seamlessly mirrors the shifting tones of overwhelming emotions, Pain and Glory tells of an ocean of human experiences; from artistic achievement to witnessing our youth slip right through our fingers, all the way to reconciling with ourselves in our barest, purest form.
