What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
"¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!" (original title)

In Madrid, the housewife Gloria lives in a tiny apartment with her husband, the taxi driver and forger Antonio; her lunatic mother-in-law, who is addicted in bottled water and cupcakes; and... See full summary »

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writer:

Pedro Almodóvar

Stars:

Carmen Maura, Luis Hostalot, Ryo Hiruma

5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carmen Maura	...	Gloria
Luis Hostalot	...	Polo
Ryo Hiruma	...	Profesor Kendo
Ángel de Andrés López	...	Antonio (as Angel de Andres-Lopez)
Gonzalo Suárez	...	Lucas Villalba (as Gonzalo Suarez)
Verónica Forqué	...	Cristal
Juan Martínez	...	Toni
Chus Lampreave	...	Abuela
Kiti Mánver	...	Juani (as Kiti Manver)
Sonia Anabela Holimann	...	Vanessa
Cecilia Roth	...	Chica anuncio
Diego Caretti	...	Chico anuncio
José Manuel Bello	...	Colega barrio
Pedro Almodóvar	...	Play-Back 'La bien pagá' (as Almodovar-McNamara)
Fabio McNamara	...	Play-Back 'La bien pagá' (as Almodovar-McNamara)

Storyline

In Madrid, the housewife Gloria lives in a tiny apartment with her husband, the taxi driver and forger Antonio; her lunatic mother-in-law, who is addicted in bottled water and cupcakes; and two teenage sons, one of them a drug dealer and the other gay. Gloria works as cleaning lady to raise some money for her dysfunctional family and is addicted in pills; her best friend is her neighbor, the call-girl Cristal. Antonio has a secret passion on a decadent German singer for whom he had worked as driver in Germany. A writer tries to convince Antonio to forge letters from Hitler and travels to Germany to meet the singer to invite her to participate in the scheme. Meanwhile Gloria delivers her gay son to a pervert dentist. Her mother-in-law finds a lizard while walking with her grandson on the street and they call it Dinero (Money) and bring it home. When Gloria has an argument with Antonio, she hits him on the head with a piece of wood, killing him. Now the police detectives investigate the...

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Plot Keywords:

singer | german | gay | dentist | writer | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish German English French

Release Date:

30 March 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 116,730,182 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kaktus Producciones Cinematográficas, Tesauro S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Esperanza Roy and Concha Velasco turned down the role of Gloria.

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Quotes

Miguel: [back home after being given in adoption to a pedophiliac dentist] At first it was fun, but I am too young to be tied down.

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Connections

Features Splendor in the Grass (1961)

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Soundtracks

"La bien pagá"
Written by Ramón Perelló and Juan Mostazo
Performed by Miguel de Molina

User Reviews

A forgotten masterpiece!

Early Almodovar is something that always keeps me fascinated! He's absolutely free of all his refined technical skills (latest films) and a real "hooligan", provoking, and full of brilliant jokes. "What have I done to deserve this?" is one of my top-Almodovar films, due to magnificent acting of Carmen Maura but not only. Almodovar, not yet burdened by the reputation of "maestro" is extremely free in expression, he does everything what is allowed and "not allowed" to do in cinema. Terrific mixture of Italian neo-realism, (remember the last episode, when Carmen sees off her family and returns home..) marvelous sarcasm, parody on intellectual cinema, and a tart-like melodrama with too much sugar. This is called Almodovar, a genius who is not afraid to seem foolish and therefore never seems foolish. A genius of KITSCH!

Haven't seen this film yet? What a lucky one you are! Be prepared for unforgettable impressions. And finally: Highly recommended for those who enjoyed "VOLVER" (these two films have much in common)