By: Inma Civico-Lyons
Abstract: Pedro Almodóvar creates a cinematography that represents the sacrifice of the subject in its becoming a subject-of-language. Having been labeled the representative of Spanish idiosyncrasies, Almodóvar´s films also express universal post-modern concerns. The director makes use of destabilizing, dissonant, and dissident discourses that question the illusory coherence of the supposedly unified subject. Using as theoretical background explanations by Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva regarding the formation of the speaking subject, in this work I analyze the relation between the subject-of-language psychological processes and the techniques that inform the construction of plot, set, and character in Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980), and Matador (1986). This research highlights the importance of the discourses of psychology and psychoanalysis to understand the artistic representations of universal post-modern sensibilities.