Carmen Maura Movies
Carmen Maura is a giant of Spanish cinema, a woman who has won numerous international awards for her work. Once the celebrated host of a Spanish television show, El Noche, and cabaret artist, Carmen Maura's star as a queen of cinema rose with that of Pedro Almodóvar.Maura began her film career in 1970, turning in great performances in films such as The Man in Hiding (1970); Fernando Colomo's Paper Tigers (1977); and Carlos Saura's 1978 film Blindfolded Eyes. The actress appeared in Almodóvar's very first film, Pepi, Luci, Bom, in 1980. Their collaboration lasted through seven films, including What Have I Done to Deserve This? and Dark Habits, both made in 1984, and The Law of Desire (1986). In the process, Maura showed the range of her abilities, as she portrayed the unusual characters that Almodóvar favors, such as a lesbian nun and a transsexual actress involved in a love triangle with her brother, played by Antonio Banderas. The two worked again in an Almodóvar vehicle that was destined to catapult them all to international stardom. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was released in 1988. The film won numerous awards, launched Banderos' career in America, and led Carmen Maura to the winners' circle for the European Film Award for Best Actress.
Her starring role as Pepa contains all the classic elements of an Almodóvar film. She is a strong and capable woman, in distress at her lover's impersonal bet, as he breaks up with her via a note and her answering machine. Her current condition of pregnancy makes his sudden departure all the more upsetting. As she teeters on the brink of insanity, her world is invaded by others vying for her time and attention at a most inopportune time: she is preparing to take her own life. Maura's gifts for comedy and pathos are evident in the hilarious scene in her apartment in which she tends to the needs of others, notably played by Banderos, Rossy de Palma, and Maria Barranco, while coming to terms with her own predicament. Almodóvar, always the admirer of the strength of women, has Pepa discovering that very fact for herself. By giving her compassion generously to others, she saves herself and is ready to face life once more.
Maura won the European Film Festival Best Actress award again in 1990 for her title role in Saura's Ay, Carmela!, with her riveting performance as an entertainer during the Spanish Civil War. Among her noteworthy contributions to cinema in the '90s were her characterizations in Happiness Is in the Field, directed by Etienne Chatiliez, in 1995; Téchiné's Alice and Martin (1998); and Common Wealth (2000), the latest film from Alex de la Eglesia. The luminous Carmen Maura is still going strong in the 21st century, having completed work in Eva Lesmes' The Hold-Up in 2001. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, Rovi
- 1970
A man withdraws from society by staying in his attic for thirty years in this symbolic feature of isolation. His wife and daughter live in the house and remain his only contact to the outside world. He emerges after three decades to find himself completely incapable of acting or thinking as he did before his self imposed isolation ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yelena Samarina, Julieta Serrano, (more)
- 1976
Teresa (Ana Belen) is an aristocrat's daughter and doesn't give a fig for the lives of mere servants. However, she is erotically drawn to one of her servant's sons, and that is not something she will ever ignore. On the night of a party celebrating her betrothal to another aristocrat, she lures the boy into her room and indulges in frenzied lovemaking with him. In the hubbub and confusion, he hits his head on a bedpost and dies. She entices yet another into her room and induces him to help her get the boy's body to the lake, whereupon she kills her helper and returns to the party looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Frederic de Pasquale, (more)
- 1977
In this non-narrative film, a salesgirl becomes embroiled in a lengthy discussion with a soldier and a film director. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Kiti Manver, (more)
- 1977
When Generalissimo Francisco Franco relinquished power and then died in 1975, Spain had lived with him as its leader for so long that everyone in the country (even his opponents) felt his absence keenly. An era had ended and a new one begun. At the same time, some serious partying could begin, and Spain could finally rejoin Europe as a modern country. This film marks two important debuts: for Carmen Maura as a screen actress, and for the director, Fernando Colomo. In this film, a trio of people involved in an amicable love triangle explore their new sense of freedom after Franco's departure by attending political rallies, taking drugs, and discussing philosophy, and partying with their equally disoriented friends. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura
- 1978
While attending an international conference which seeks to reduce the incidence of the use of torture by nations around the globe, a movie director (Jose Luis Gomez) encounters a woman (Geraldine Chaplin) whom he decides to cast in a play about state torture. As events proceed, he and the woman, the wife of a dentist, become lovers. All along, however, right-wing types have been persecuting, and the whole endeavor goes sour. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Geraldine Chaplin, José Luis Gómez, (more)
- 1980
An outrageous comedy that throws viewers into a culture shock. A suggestive satire about women who ignore society's rules. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Eva Siva, (more)
- 1980
In this scary Spanish thriller, a young girl's husband rents her a lovely home just outside of Madrid so she can spend the last three months of her pregnancy in peace and luxury. Unfortunately, just as they arrive at the home, the girl realizes that it is the place where she had secretly had an illegal abortion five years before. The clinic is long-gone, but this doesn't ease the woman's disquiet. Things get even worse when she learns that her upstairs neighbor is the old abortionist's assistant. This woman has gone insane and keeps all the abortion tools and jars full of fetuses in the attic. In the end, the assistant loses all reason and tries to destroy the pregnant girl and the home. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Javier Escriva, Silvia Aguila, (more)
- 1980
One man's inability to develop any serious, committed relationships with women is the focus of this standard romantic drama by Fernando Mendez-Leite. Pedro (Xabier Elorriaga) teaches literature in an all girls school and is clearly dedicated to his profession. After he meets Aurora (Marilina Ross) at a party, she turns out to be more than he can emotionally handle. An Argentinian exile, Aurora has all the passion that Pedro seems to have missed in his life. Deciding he would rather switch than change, Pedro goes looking for other women, but in all the wrong places. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Xavier Elorriaga, Marilina Ross, (more)
- 1981
In the three days before an operation on the cancer that is threatening to kill her, a film director (Mercedes Sampietro) remembers a few of the most poignant and meaningful relationships and dreams of her life. The premise for this partially autobiographical movie was taken from the real-life dilemma of the actual director, Pilar Miro. Miro had to undergo dangerous open-heart surgery and used her own experience to co-write the screenplay for Gary Cooper, Who Art in Heaven. In the film, the director's romantic involvement with a journalist and an art student, as well as how she views the results of those relationships, are aspects of her life that get careful scrutiny. A photograph of Gary Cooper just before he died brings mortality sharply into focus for her, hence the title of the film. She also considers her ambitions, dreams that may no longer have time to come true -- and wonders if they ever had a chance anyway. As the surgery approaches, the director's own pessimism colors her view of the life she has spent until that moment. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mercedes Sampietro, Jon Finch, (more)
In this Pedro Almodóvar film, a singer at a low-end nightclub hides out at a convent after her lover dies of a bad dose of drugs, and she meets a group of off-the-wall nuns while in hiding. The nuns range from one who writes sensationalist pulp fiction under a pseudonym to another who takes drugs, and another hooked on masochism. But their private lives and perverse foibles may be in jeopardy when a new mother superior arrives to take charge of the convent. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julieta Serrano, Marisa Paredes, (more)
- 1984
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Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, the Luis Buñuel of the 1980s, cooks up another perversely funny descent into urban hell in What Have I Done to Deserve This? Carmen Maura plays a middle-class housewife hemmed in by her wildly eccentric relatives. Her principal purpose in life is a balancing act: to keep her head fastened on securely while all others are losing theirs. Film buffs will have a field day toting up Almodóvar's visual and verbal allusions to the works of Buñuel, Brian De Palma, Billy Wilder, John Waters, and even Andy Warhol. What Have I Done to Deserve This? was originally titled ¿Que He Hecho Yo Para Merecer Esto? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Ángel de Andrés Lopez, (more)
In this conventional comedy of manners, two men in the publishing business run into trouble both in the boardroom and in the bedroom. Their venture is starting to run out of black ink, and one of them is very suspicious of his wife's loyalties. Add in a right-wing author of children's stories, a hooker, a secretary driven to her wits' end (not a long journey), and the stage is set for comedy -- if only the script would follow suit. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ana Belén, Carmen Maura, (more)
- 1986
- NC17
Once-great Spanish matador Nacho Martinez has been reduced to starring in gruesome "snuff" films. Martinez is idolized by Antonio Banderas, who has no notion of his idol's current illegal profession. Terrified at the thought of drawing blood in the bullring, Banderas nevertheless seeks out Martinez' assistance in preparing for a bullfighting career. To prove his "machismo", Banderas rapes Martinez' lady-friend Eva Cobo. No one will believe Banderas' confession of the rape, so he decides to attach more importance to his crime by confessing to a recent rash of serial killings (actually perpetrated by Martinez and his cohorts). Bandera's case is taken by feminist attorney Assumpta Serna, who unwittingly--but not unwillingly--sets herself up as Martinez' next "conquest." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Assumpta Serna, Antonio Banderas, (more)
- 1986
- NC17
Popular film director Pablo Quintero (Eusebio Poncela) has found a new love in the form of handsome blue-collar Juan (Miguel Molina). Not altogether comfortable with his lifestyle, Juan decides to leave Pablo for a while to contemplate his future. Pablo insists that Juan keep in touch by sending him love letters. Ever the director, he plans to write the letters himself, and have Juan mail them back with his signature. If you think that settles things, you don't know filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. Among the many plot complications in Law of Desire is Pablo's subsequent romance with the possessive Antonio (Antonio Banderas, whose "gay kiss" in the film prompted front-page headlines in the Brazilian press), and Pablo's efforts to film the life story of his sister (Carmen Maura), who started out life as his brother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura, (more)
- 1986
Tata (Imperio Argentina) is a matronly nurse hired by a wealthy heiress who has spent the last 13 years in a convent. Fearing she is prone to nymphomania, Tata oversees the romantic antics of the sex-starved woman as she attempts to rejoin society. Satirical jabs at the military government, the aristocracy, and the Church highlight this comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Imperio Argentina, Alfredo Landa, (more)
- 1988
Antonio (Antonio Banderas) is a gigolo who is taken in by a wealthy middle-aged woman in this sultry crime drama. He moves into the posh apartment of Isabel Harris (Carmen Maura) and satisfies her sexual urges. When Isabel has reoccurring nightmares she is being raped, the couple visits a pretty female psychiatrist. After Antonio seduces the shrink, he and the psychiatrist plot to kill Isabel's husband, steal their money, and pin the blame on her. The three double-cross each other after the man's murder is investigated by the police. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, (more)
- 1988
- R
- Add Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown to Queue Add Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown to top of Queue
Though the kinky characters and aberrant social behavior common to the works of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar are very evident in his Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the film is at heart a door-slamming farce in the grand tradition. The tiny apartment of pregnant actress Carmen Maura is the "Grand Central Station" setpiece for this dizzying tale. Distraught over her recent breakup with her lover, Carmen prepares to overdose on sleeping pills, which she blends into a gazpacho so they'll go down easier. She is diverted from her suicide by her best friend Maria Barranco, a fugitive from justice (her boy friend is a Shi'Ite terrorist) who needs a place to stay. Later, when Carmen's apartment is empty, her ex-lover's grown son (Antonio Banderas) comes to the apartment with his fiance (Rossy de Palma) in answer to Carmen's "room to let" newspaper ad. The wife inadvertently ingests Carmen's "pill sauce," and as she blissfully snoozes, the husband inaugurates an affair with Carmen's friend Barranco. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, (more)
- 1990
In Ay, Carmela, filmmaker Carlos Saura again harks back to his bitter childhood memories of the Spanish Civil War. Carmela (Carmen Maura), Paulino (Andres Pajares) and Gustavete (Gabino Diego) are travelling entertainers, trouping through Spain to perform their act before the Republican troops. Early one morning, the three artistes find themselves in Franco-controlled territory. In mute terror, the captive entertainers witness the deaths of several innocents at the hands of the fascists. Then they are forced to do a show for their captors. Swallowing their pride and hiding their disgust, the entertainers agree to do so. But Carmela is unable to go through with this humiliation: before an assembly a Francoites, she defiantly sings a paean to the Loyalist cause...and in so doing, achieves martyrdom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Andres Pajares, (more)
- 1990
- NR
In this comedy from Spain, Carmen (Carmen Maura) is a woman in her early 40s who is nearing the end of her rope juggling a career as a reporter, taking care of her two children, minding the house, and dealing with a husband (her third) who thinks that she doesn't pay enough attention to him, and doesn't mind telling her so. The myriad pressures lead Carmen to consider a divorce, but eventually help comes along, though hardly in the form she expected. The cast also includes Antonio Resines, Juanajo Puigcorbe, and Carmen Conesa. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Antonio Resines, (more)
- 1992
Behind the peaceful walls of an impoverished medieval Spanish convent lies a teeming hotbed of ambition, lies and double-crossing as can be seen in this powerful, thought-provoking drama that is based upon Jesus Fernandez Santos' novel. The convent is set in an arid area and sole support comes from the local duke. The plague has been ravaging the surrounding town and panicky residents who are not yet afflicted flee. Sister Angela becomes ill and is nursed by her devoted friend Sister Ana. Angela slowly gets stronger and as she does, she begins reading about the lives of the saints. She begins to believe that the only way to save the decimated village from further chaos is to host a miracle. Sister Angela then has Sister Ana make deep slices into her palms to look like stigmata. The townsfolk believe that Angela's hands are bleeding spontaneously, but the mother superior isn't so sure and sets out to prove the miracle a fake. She can't and the villagers begin to revere Sister Angela as a saint. The mother superior can't bear this, and when Sister Angela is elected the new prioress, she goes over the edge with her desire for revenge. Things get even worse when the duke shows up and promises to give the convent enough support to make them one of the most powerful in Spain if they will host his daughter, who is thinking about joining the nunnery. Unfortunately, the haughty young woman is more interested in running things her own way. The deposed mother superior conspires with her at every opportunity, and when Sister Angela's palms suddenly becoming dangerously infected, the prioress finally gets her chance for revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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