La mala educación (2004)

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writer:

Pedro Almodóvar (writer)

Release Date:

19 March 2004 (Spain)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.

Plot Keywords:

School | Teacher | Screenplay | Sexual Abuse | Actor

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 11 wins & 30 nominations

Cast

Gael García Bernal	...	Ángel / Juan / Zahara
Fele Martínez	...	Enrique Goded
Daniel Giménez Cacho	...	Padre Manolo
Lluís Homar	...	Sr. Manuel Berenguer
Francisco Maestre	...	Padre José
Francisco Boira	...	Ignacio
Juan Fernández	...	Martín
Nacho Pérez	...	Ignacio (as Ignacio Pérez)
Raúl García Forneiro	...	Enrique (as Raúl Gª Forneiro)
Javier Cámara	...	Paca / Paquito
Alberto Ferreiro	...	Enrique Serrano
Petra Martínez	...	Madre
Sandra
Roberto Hoyas	...	Camarero

Also Known As:

Bad Education (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Las visitas (Spain) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated NC-17 for a scene of explicit sexual content.; Rated R for strong sexual content throughout, language and some drug use. (special edition)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish | Latin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:R-18 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Germany:12 | New Zealand:R16 | Brazil:18 | Hungary:16 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Mexico:C | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Poland:15 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:NC-17 | USA:R (special edition) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Escuela Pías de Alella, Alella, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Canal+ España

Trivia:

Aside from perfecting a Spanish accent for the film, Mexican Gael Garcia Bernal also had to master Spanish body language. He took flamenco lessons to help him do that. He also studied the films of Barbara Stanwyck and Spanish camp icon Sara Montiel, as well as Almodovar's previous leading ladies, Carmen Maura and Victoria Abril. When asked, however, if there was a particular femme fatale he sought to emulate, Bernal's response was Alain Delon's sexually ambiguous Ripley in "Plein Soleil" (1960).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Burenguer declines Ignacio's story over the phone, he says that he wouldn't be accepting it for "Short Stories of the 80's". According to his story, it would have had to been at least 1977, three years before the '80s let alone before a compilation of stories from the '80s would be released.

Movie Connections:

References La bête humaine (1938)

Soundtrack:

Moon River

All About My Father

The title "Bad Education" only hints at what Almodovar's magnificent new film is all about. While certainly the sexual abuse the boy Ignacio suffers at the hands of Father Monolo is largely the contributing factor in the way his life turns out, (the film's most telling line occurs when the boy, on realising the priest's betrayal, says that at that moment he lost his faith and his belief in God and hell, that he was no longer afraid and without fear was capable of anything), it is not, essentially, what the film is about.

Indeed, a much better, if perhaps a more blase title might have been "All About My Father", for like Almodovar's earlier masterpiece "All About My Mother" it is a film about artifice, role-play and deception. The opening credits, (a pastiche of Saul Bass with a Herrmanesque score) deliberately evokes late Hitchcock and the film recalls "Vertigo", stylistically as well as thematically, another film about someone loving someone who is not whom they appear to be, each revelation building inexorably to a denouement as layers are quite literally stripped away. In a film which. in a sense, is 'about' acting, the performances are uniformly excellent, though to be fair, Gael Garcia Bernal, (certainly the best actor of his generation), stands head and shoulders above the rest playing a variation of roles, or rather a variation of the same role. All in all this is exquisite, pertinent all-encompassing film-making that only confirms Almodovar's position in the front rank of world class directors.