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

Victoria Abril turned down the role of Cristal, as she didn't want to play another prostitute, having just played one recently.

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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

Referenced in Law of Desire (1987)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

The Tragicomic Adventures of a Housewife in Madrid

In Madrid, the housewife Gloria (Carmen Maura) lives in a tiny apartment with her husband, the taxi driver and forger Antonio (Angel de Andres- Lopez); 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 (Verónica Forqué). 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 murder case.

"¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!" (meaning "What did I do to deserve this?) is a tragicomic film by Almodóvar with the adventures of a housewife in Madrid. The situations are hilarious and absurd, and the characters are composed by a forger, a kleptomaniac, a drug-dealer, a homosexual, a prostitute, a psychic, a lunatic, an addicted, an impotent with premature ejaculation, an alcoholic writer, an abusive mother and so on. The result is really a funny and politically incorrect film of this anarchic director. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Que Fiz Eu Para Merecer Isto?" ("What Did I do to Deserve This?")