This Europe: Almodovar fumes at drugs-in-films study
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Spain's Oscar-winning film maker Pedro Almodovar has lashed out at a Barcelona university for publishing a study that analyses the frequency of drug use in his films.
Drugs are consumed or mentioned in 14 per cent of the footage of Almodovar's films, the study by the psychology faculty of Ramon Llull University suggests. They watched 13 Almodovar films from his 1980 debut Pepi Luci, Bom y otras chicas del monton (Pepi Luci, Bom and Other Ordinary Girls) to his 1999 Oscar-winner Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), and logged three hours, five minutes and 39 seconds of screen time devoted to addictive substances.
The experts counted 170 characters who were related directly or indirectly to legal and illegal drugs, most of them women. Many were doctors, policemen or clerics, noted the study, which appears in the latest copy of Adicciones (Addictions), the journal of the Spanish Scientific Society of Studies on Alcohol, Alcoholism and other Drug Dependencies.
Almodovar said he felt "a kafkaesque sensation of fear, disgust, astonishment, fury and indignation" on learning of the study, and launched an angry counter-attack. "Suppose we analysed the work of Scorsese and found 60 per cent of his characters were gangsters and delinquents, owned weapons and used them often. We'd have to conclude that Scorsese was a member of organised crime."
Almodovar wondered, in an article in El Mundo newspaper, if the scholars were confusing fiction with reality, arguing that condemning drug use in films was the first step to forbidding such activities to be shown. He added: "The author doesn't judge his characters, but understands them, however monstrous they may be, and shows their humanity and explain their complexity; and must do so in complete liberty. It depresses me to have to defend my work in 2003 against this damned study."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments