Almodovar's Visual Style Has Been Described as Excessive and Cluttered
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- Date Submitted: 01/14/2011 10:56 PM
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Almodóvar’s visual style has been described as ‘excessive’ and sometimes ‘cluttered’. Consider these descriptions in respect of the mise-en-scène of “Todo Sobre Mi Madre”, both showing why they may be appropriate and considering the use that Almodóvar makes of his excess.
It is not very difficult to see why some people may find Almodóvar’s work to be excessive and even cluttered. While at times during “Todo Sobre Mi Madre” this does not seem to be the case, there is almost certainly always some over the top aspect to each scene.
Ordinarily the mise-en-scène of any film is going to need to be very accurate. However Almodóvar takes this a step further. All we have to do is select scenes at random from “Todo Sobre Mi Madre” and we can quite clearly see the excessive attention paid to detail in some of his shots. The scene which I find to be the most cluttered in terms of background detail is one which is set in Huma’s dressing room. The attention paid to the choice and positioning of the photographs is quite significant as the images both portray events which have occurred during previous parts of the film and also show other unknown characters, which helps the audience relate to Huma as it shows her life isn’t directly related to events just happening in this movie. At one point in the film (just after we see the sign “dos semanas despues” arise, we see photos of Huma as a younger actress smoking a cigarette.
Photographs however are not the only props used excessively in this scene. Almodóvar makes use of objects such as mirrors to give the audience a better sense of the spaciousness of the room in which Huma and Manuela are in. It also helps us view photographs and other objects (such as flowers) which would ordinarily be out of sight in a normal shot. The use of mirrors (and reflection) also enables us to see characters expressions when they are not looking in the direction of the camera. This effect could have been achieved with fewer mirrors, once again...
It is not very difficult to see why some people may find Almodóvar’s work to be excessive and even cluttered. While at times during “Todo Sobre Mi Madre” this does not seem to be the case, there is almost certainly always some over the top aspect to each scene.
Ordinarily the mise-en-scène of any film is going to need to be very accurate. However Almodóvar takes this a step further. All we have to do is select scenes at random from “Todo Sobre Mi Madre” and we can quite clearly see the excessive attention paid to detail in some of his shots. The scene which I find to be the most cluttered in terms of background detail is one which is set in Huma’s dressing room. The attention paid to the choice and positioning of the photographs is quite significant as the images both portray events which have occurred during previous parts of the film and also show other unknown characters, which helps the audience relate to Huma as it shows her life isn’t directly related to events just happening in this movie. At one point in the film (just after we see the sign “dos semanas despues” arise, we see photos of Huma as a younger actress smoking a cigarette.
Photographs however are not the only props used excessively in this scene. Almodóvar makes use of objects such as mirrors to give the audience a better sense of the spaciousness of the room in which Huma and Manuela are in. It also helps us view photographs and other objects (such as flowers) which would ordinarily be out of sight in a normal shot. The use of mirrors (and reflection) also enables us to see characters expressions when they are not looking in the direction of the camera. This effect could have been achieved with fewer mirrors, once again...