Moviedrome
What Have I Done To Deserve This (1984)
1993 • E23 Sep 19, 1993
Pedro Almodovar is the premier director of the New Spain. Obviously I say that with a certain cynicism: being the premier director of the New Spain is rather like being the premier novelist of Milton Keynes. What Have I Done To Deserve This? is actually a pretty good Almodovar film: more slick than some of his other movies, with less plot, it is the everyday story of a dysfunctional family living among the horrible tower blocks of contemporary Madrid. It’s the first Almodovar film I’ve seen that doesn’t open with a scene involving a movie being dubbed. But the characters, as always, are writers and media people, prostitutes and junky kids, burnt-out housewives and funereally clad grandmothers.