Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Singing of dubious desire: Imperio Argentina and Penélope Cruz as Nazi Germany’s exotic Other
- 2 Voicing gender: transgender performance and the national imaginary in the Spanish cinema of the democratic era
- 3 Bien pagá: popular song in the films of Pedro Almodóvar
- 4 El otro lado de la cama: remixed Transition (1973–82)
- 5 On the function of punk aesthetics in Salto al vacío and Historias del Kronen
- 6 Mobile soundscapes in the quinqui film
- 7 Song-shaped cinema: the performance of Gypsy and Basque songs in relation to film form
- 8 Travelling song: music, iteration and translation in La leyenda del tiempo
- 9 Sound moves: immigration and music in Cosas que dejé en La Habana
- 10 The Afro-Cuban soundscape of Mexico City: authenticating spaces of violence and immorality in Salón México and Víctimas del pecado
- 11 Blues traveller: Habana Blues and the framing of diasporic cubanía
- 12 Dancing in the dark: Saura’s Tango
- 13 Re-making Frida Kahlo through song in Frida
- 14 ‘Silence! Fado is about to be sung’: fado and the comédia à portuguesa
- 15 Sounds from Brazil: brasilidade and the rise of the music documentary
- 16 Soundtrack to roguery: music and malandragem in the city
- 17 The Brazilian chanchada’s musical moments and the performance of identity
- 18 Orpheus in Babylon: music, myth and realism in the fi lms of Rio de Janeiro
- Index
3 - Bien pagá: popular song in the films of Pedro Almodóvar
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 December 2025
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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Singing of dubious desire: Imperio Argentina and Penélope Cruz as Nazi Germany’s exotic Other
- 2 Voicing gender: transgender performance and the national imaginary in the Spanish cinema of the democratic era
- 3 Bien pagá: popular song in the films of Pedro Almodóvar
- 4 El otro lado de la cama: remixed Transition (1973–82)
- 5 On the function of punk aesthetics in Salto al vacío and Historias del Kronen
- 6 Mobile soundscapes in the quinqui film
- 7 Song-shaped cinema: the performance of Gypsy and Basque songs in relation to film form
- 8 Travelling song: music, iteration and translation in La leyenda del tiempo
- 9 Sound moves: immigration and music in Cosas que dejé en La Habana
- 10 The Afro-Cuban soundscape of Mexico City: authenticating spaces of violence and immorality in Salón México and Víctimas del pecado
- 11 Blues traveller: Habana Blues and the framing of diasporic cubanía
- 12 Dancing in the dark: Saura’s Tango
- 13 Re-making Frida Kahlo through song in Frida
- 14 ‘Silence! Fado is about to be sung’: fado and the comédia à portuguesa
- 15 Sounds from Brazil: brasilidade and the rise of the music documentary
- 16 Soundtrack to roguery: music and malandragem in the city
- 17 The Brazilian chanchada’s musical moments and the performance of identity
- 18 Orpheus in Babylon: music, myth and realism in the fi lms of Rio de Janeiro
- Index
Summary
Pedro Almodóvar's use of music has been duly noted as an essential element of his filmic vision since his films were first analysed in the early 1980s. This chapter focuses on the use of popular song in Almodóvar's films. The use of music in Almodóvar's early films represents a nexus between the director's undeniable affection and nostalgia for the popular culture of the Francoist Spain of his childhood and adolescence, and the camp/kitsch attitude developed within the gay/punk underground, which became la movida. Almodóvar chose the version of exiled Republican Miguel Molina rather than that of some folclórico (folk singer) within the Spain of Franco in keeping with the director's postmodern punk ethos. The opening strains of Miguel Molina singing 'La Bien pagá' can be heard in the background during their 'lovemaking' but the film quickly cuts to an odd image.
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- Screening songs in Hispanic and Lusophone cinema , pp. 51 - 65Publisher: Manchester University PressFirst published in: 2025
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