Pedro Almodóvar’s The Human Voice

On Wednesday, Venice gave a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to Tilda Swinton, and the very next morning, she reappeared on the big screen dressed head to toe in Almodóvarian red as members of the press were treated to a preview of The Human Voice. Pedro Almodóvar first fleetingly referenced Jean Cocteau’s 1930 play in Law of Desire (1987) and then again far more explicitly in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). This new half-hour free adaptation is the Spanish filmmaker’s first work in English, but the first round of strong reviews suggests that his signature penchant for stark composition and color remains solidly intact. “From the first shot, we’re plunged into his hyperreal, hyper-designed world, and his red tones pop out like a 3D effect,” writes David Katz at the Film Stage. “The experience is so ravishing you almost need sunglasses.”

Further praise comes from Nicholas Barber at IndieWire and Robbie Collin in the Telegraph. At the press conference in Venice, Almodóvar and Swinton spoke a bit about making the film in Madrid two months ago while observing all the necessary lockdown protocols. “Next month, I’m starting my next film because, despite uncertainty, I have to go on, I need to keep making films,” says Almodóvar. Madres paralelas will tell the story of two mothers who give birth on the same day, and he’s already written two more short films. One will be a “colorful” western, and the other, A Strange Form of Life will take place in a future when all cinemas have disappeared. “So you have to tell people to go to the cinemas and theaters,” he says, “because some things will only be discovered in the dark with people that we don’t know.”