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Bad Education (2004 film)

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For the song by Tilly and the Wall, see Bad Education (song).
Bad Education
(La mala educación)
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPedro Almodóvar
Written byPedro Almodóvar
Produced byPedro Almodóvar
Agustín Almodóvar
Esther García
StarringGael García Bernal
Fele Martinez
Daniel Giménez Cacho
Javier Cámara
Petra Martínez
Leonor Watling
CinematographyJose Luis Alcaine
Edited byJosé Salcedo
Music byAlberto Iglesias
Distributed byWarner Sogefilms (Spain)
Sony Pictures Classics
Release dates
19 March 2004 (Spain)
September 5, 2004
Running time
105 minutes
CountrySpain
LanguagesSpanish
Latin
Budget$5 million[1]
Box office$40,266,982[2]

Bad Education (Spanish: La mala educación) is a 2004 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starring Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Daniel Giménez Cacho and Lluís Homar. The plot is about two reunited childhood friends (and lovers) in the vein of a murder mystery. Sexual abuse by Catholic priests, transsexuality, drug use, and a metafiction are also important themes and devices in the plot, which led the MPAA to give the film an NC-17 rating.

Plot

In Madrid in 1980, Enrique Goded, a young film director, is looking for his next project when he receives the unexpected visit of an actor looking for work. The actor claims to be Enrique's boarding school friend and first love, Ignacio Rodriguez. Ignacio, who is using now the name Ángel Andrade, has brought with him a short story titled "The Visit" hoping that Enrique would be interested in making a film out of it giving him the starring role. Enrique is intrigued since "The Visit" described their time together at the Catholic school and it also includes a fictionalized account of their reunion many years later as adults.

"The Visit" is set in 1977. It tells the story of a drag artist and transsexual called Zahara, whose real name is Ignacio. Zahara plans to rob a drunken admirer but discovers that the man is her boyhood lover Enrique. Next she visits her old school and confronts father Manolo, who abused her when she was a boy. She demands one million pesetas from him in exchange for halting publication of her story " The Visit". The story is set in a Catholic boarding school for boys in 1964. At the school, Ignacio, a young boy with a beautiful singing voice, is the object of lust by Father Manolo, the school principal and literature teacher. Ignacio has found his first love and cinema in the company of Enrique, a classmate. One night father Manolo discovers them together and threatens to expel Enrique. In an attempt to prevent this, Ignacio gives himself to father Manolo. The priest molests Ignacio, but expels Enrique anyway.

Enrique wants to adapt Ignacio's story into a film, but Angel's condition is that he plays the part of Zahara, the transsexual lead. Enrique remains skeptical, for he feels that the Ignacio whom he loved and the Ignacio of today are totally different people. He drives to Galicia to Ignacio's mother and learns that the real Ignacio has been dead for four years and that the man who came to his office is really Ignacio's younger brother, Juan.

Enrique's interest is piqued, and he decides to do the movie with Juan in the role of Ignacio to find out what drives Juan. Enrique and Angel start a relationship, and Enrique revises the script so that it ends with Father Manolo, whom Ignacio was trying to blackmail to get money for sex reassignment surgery, having Ignacio murdered. When the scene is shot, Ángel breaks out in tears unexpectedly.

The movie set is visited by Manuel Berenguer , who is none other than the real Father Manolo, who has resigned from Church duty. Berenguer confesses to Enrique that the new ending of the film is not far from the truth: the real Ignacio blackmailed Berenguer, who somehow managed to scratch together the money but also took an interest in Ignacio's younger brother, Juan. Juan and Manuel started a relationship and after a while realized they both wanted to see Ignacio dead. Juan scored some very pure heroin, so that his brother would die by overdose after shooting up.

Enrique is shocked and not at all interested in Juan's weak vindications for what he did to his brother. Finally, before he leaves, Juan gives Enrique a piece of paper: a letter to Enrique that Ignacio was in the middle of typing when he died.

In the epilogue, it is mentioned that Enrique releases his film later which achieves great success. Despite the grief and guilt of his brother, Juan also achieves success, but was later relegated to television work. Berenguer dies in a car accident (caused by Juan and thus fulfilling his promise made earlier in the film).

Cast

  • Gael García Bernal as Ángel / Juan / Zahara. Bernal was required to display a convincing Castilian Spanish accent before being cast.
  • Fele Martínez as Enrique Goded
  • Daniel Giménez Cacho as Father Manolo
  • Lluís Homar as Sr. Manuel Berenguer
  • Javier Cámara as Paca/Paquito
  • Petra Martínez as Mother
  • Nacho Pérez as Young Ignacio
  • Raúl García Forneiro as Young Enrique
  • Francisco Boira as Ignacio
  • Juan Fernández as Martín
  • Alberto Ferreiro as Enrique Serrano

Production

According to Almodóvar, he worked on the screenplay for over ten years.[1]

Release

The film was released in Spain on 19 March 2004, and in the United States on September 5, 2004 - to generally positive reviews.

The film was rated NC-17 originally for "a scene of explicit sexual content"; it was later edited to an R rating, there for "strong sexual content throughout, language, and some drug use".

Reception

The film received the honor of opening in the 57th Cannes Film Festival in 2004,[3] the first Spanish film to do so.

Box office

Overall, this film grossed $40 million worldwide.[2] The film grossed $5.2 million in the United States theatrically[2] - a success for a foreign-language film.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b De La Fuente, Anna Marie (2004-11-04). "Almodovar puts 'Education' to use". Variety. Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2009-06-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Bad Education (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  3. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Bad Education". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
  4. ^ Scott Tobias, "Foreign affairs," The Hollywood Reporter, November 19, 2004

External links

Template:Link GA

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