On 5th March 2020, I went to the cinema to see JOJO RABBIT.
On 22nd May 2021, I went to the cinema to see THE HUMAN VOICE.
There have been cinematic droughts in previous years but there was the option to go if I wanted to and there was usually something at the National Film Theatre worth seeing on the big screen again. But of course in the past 14 months cinemas have been closed due to COVID. I wondered what would lure me back into risking my health in an enclosed space with strangers... what had to be seen on the big screen rather than being streamed on my laptop. Oh course it was Pedro!
I had a ticket for the originally-announced screening of the film last October when the cinemas reopened only for them to close again quickly. But here it was again and this time it was a successful visit! It was in the smaller NFT screen which was a concern but with carefully managed front-of-house procedures easing me into the cinema, it was a relief to find that the rows of seats only had 4 seats intact per row, with seats physically missing between them; and of course, we watched it wearing masks.
I had seen Jean Cocteau's one-woman play only on screen before, in Roberto Rossellini's 1948 film of two short stories L'AMORE, both featuring the elemental screen presence of Anna Magnani. The plot is simple: a woman is alone in her apartment, waiting for her lover to return. He has packed his suitcases which stand by the door, watched over by his faithful dog, but he has been away for three days and the woman is wracked with pain and depression. Finally he calls and, in a one-sided conversation, we watch her as she wrestles with her emotions, nonchalent, honest, capricous. pleading, distraught, angry, desperately keeping him talking - while he is on the phone she still has him in her life. It doesn't help that his call keeps getting cut off.
Almodóvar saw the film in the 1980s and it haunted him to the extent that it features in two consecutive films: in LA LEY DEL DESEO (LAW OF DESIRE) Carmen Maura's character is appearing in a stage version of the play; wanting to star Maura in a central role Almodóvar attempted to adapt it for the screen only to be left with the bare bones of the plot as it morphed into his break-out comedy MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN ATAQUE DE NERVIOS (WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN).
What nagged at Almodóvar was the ending; Cocteau's play was first shown in 1930 and Pedro felt that while the central theme was still universal, he felt it needed a more contemporary feel to reflect the actresses of today but how would he find someone to bring The Woman to life? He had met actress (and fan) Tilda Swinton at various film festivals down the years and she had suggested she was available anytime to play a role for a him - not speaking Spanish she suggested she could play a mute!
But in early 2020 THE HUMAN VOICE floated up to Pedro again and he realised that - not only was it an ideal role for her - but that to win her over it could be filmed in English and, more importantly, he did not have to be tied to having to widen it out to a feature-length film; it would perfectly suit being a short film - the running time is 30 minutes. When the pandemic cancelled their first attempt to film it last April it gave time for Pedro to work on an ideal shooting arrangement: setting it in an empty sound-stage with a standing box set to represent her apartment, he could film it with a skeleton crew and Tilda. It certainly captures perfectly the worldwide feeling of paranoia at being isolated at home. They started filming in July last year and it was completed in 11 days.
With only one outdoor location - a Madrid hardware shop - the premise works brilliantly. The woman is now an actress, first seen in an outlandish, glamorous ballgown in a large empty soundstage, she is nervous and on-edge. She returns to her chic colour co-ordinated apartment - quickly revealed to be a set in the same soundstage - and she moves around it obviously distracted: sorting their favourite dvds and cds, destroying his suit, taking tablets, existing... and then the phone rings.
I wondered if my attention might wander but not at all: Swinton inhabits the role wonderfully - with her Bowie air of stillness and unpredictability and her crisp voice like broken celery, she doesn't need to be a walking volcano like Magnani, her modernist hauteur quickly reveals the broken heart nursed inside. While talking on the phone - with a pair of air-buds in place - she wanders out of the apartment into the empty soundstage at times, a perfect visualisation that even outside her apartment she is still in a world of silence and solitude.
Almodóvar's loose adaptation of the play ends in a wonderfully surprising and fitting end for his version of Cocteau's Woman - who after trying a number of poses, is left with telling her departing lover the truth. I must mention that THE HUMAN VOICE does not just have one performer - special plaudits and a packet of Bonio for Dash the collie who gives a great performance as the lonely dog missing his master. At the filmed interview between Almodóvar, Swinton and Mark Kermode shown after it, both mentioned that Dash's individual interpretation forced them to rethink some moments within the scenes which turned out to be infintely better choices! Needless to say, being an Almodóvar film means the cinematography and set design are glorious.
Also a special mention to longtime Pedro composer Alberto Iglesias - there was no time for him to compose an original score before it's invited space at the Venice Film Festival so he re-edited sections from his previous Almodóvar scores to create a new one, you would never know! The great news is not only is Pedro working on a new film with old friends Penelope Cruz and Rossy DePalma named MADRES PARALELAS but he has a project in mind to work with Tilda Swinton again.
And watch out The Arts... I am back.
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