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133-439: Pedro Almodóvar Caballero ( Spanish: [ˈpeðɾo almoˈðoβaɾ kaβaˈʎeɾo] ; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by melodrama , irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narratives. Desire, LGBTQ issues, passion, family, motherhood, and identity are among Almodóvar's most frequently explored subjects. As one of

266-410: A Galician-Portuguese language, is a specially protected language and is spoken in the valley of Jálama . The Extremaduran language , the collective name for a group of vernacular dialects related to Leonese is endangered. Local variants of Portuguese are native to Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara . Portuguese has also been accounted to be spoken as well by some people (mainly those born before

399-513: A saqaliba previously freed by Al-Hakam II . Conversely, the kingdoms of León , Castile and Portugal (most notably the first one) made advances in the 11th and 12th centuries across the territory (with for example the successive Leonese conquests of Coria in 1079 and 1142, the Portuguese attempts at expanding across the Guadiana basin in the second half of the 12th century, or

532-422: A "victory over repression". Late Victorian and Edwardian melodrama combined a conscious focus on realism in stage sets and props with "anti-realism" in character and plot. Melodrama in this period strove for "credible accuracy in the depiction of incredible, extraordinary" scenes. Novelist Wilkie Collins is noted for his attention to accurate detail (e.g., of legal matters) in his works, no matter how sensational

665-436: A Nervous Breakdown (1988).The film debuted at the 45th Venice film festival . This feminist light comedy of rapid-fire dialogue and fast-paced action further established Almodóvar as a "women's director" in the same vein as George Cukor and Rainer Werner Fassbinder . Almodóvar has said that women make better characters: "women are more spectacular as dramatic subjects, they have a greater range of registers, etc." Women on

798-611: A better critical reception in Italy and France and won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film . In the US, Miramax's lack of promotional effort was blamed for the film's underperformance in the country. It was however nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Kika (1993) His next film Kika (1993) centres on the good-hearted, but clueless, makeup artist named Kika (Verónica Forqué) who gets herself tangled in

931-423: A different sin. This film has an almost all-female cast including Carmen Maura, Julieta Serrano , Marisa Paredes and Chus Lampreave , actresses who Almodóvar would cast again in later films. This is Almodóvar's first film in which he used popular music to express emotion: in a pivotal scene, the mother superior and her protégé sing along with Lucho Gatica 's bolero " Encadenados ". Dark Habits premiered at

1064-599: A foreign population of 34,667. The Extremaduran population, according to the 1591 census of the provinces of the Kingdom of Castile , was around 540,000 people, making up 8% of the total population of Spain. No other census was performed until 1717, when 326,358 people were counted as living in Extremadura. From this period, the population grew steadily until the 1960s (1,379,072 people in 1960). After 1960, emigration to more prosperous regions of Spain and Europe drained

1197-612: A freer and more imaginative course regarding the plot prerogative. Within the context of the Czech National Revival , the melodrama took on a specifically nationalist meaning for Czech artists, beginning roughly in the 1870s and continuing through the First Czechoslovak Republic of the interwar period. This new understanding of the melodrama stemmed primarily from such nineteenth-century scholars and critics as Otakar Hostinský , who considered

1330-405: A fruitful collaboration with Victoria Abril . Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) tells the story about a recently released psychiatric patient, Ricky (Antonio Banderas), who kidnaps a porn star, Marina (Abril), in order to make her fall in love with him. Rather than populate the film with many characters, as in his previous films, here the story focuses on the compelling relationship at its center:

1463-958: A fusion of the Hispanic and Asian cultures) the Philippines . Expatriate communities in the diaspora of these countries give viewership a global market. Melodrama films are a subgenre of drama films characterized by plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience . Melodramatic films commonly use plots that involve crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship , strained familial situations, tragedy , illness , neuroses , or emotional and physical hardship . The stock characters present in melodrama films include victims, couples, virtuous and heroic characters, and suffering protagonists (usually heroines ). These characters are faced with tremendous social pressures, threats, repression, fears, improbable events or difficulties with friends, community , work , lovers, or family. Following

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1596-543: A homage to Italian neorealism , although this tribute also involves jokes about paedophilia , prostitution, and a telekinetic child. The film, set in the tower blocks around Madrid in post-Franco Spain, depicts female frustration and family breakdown, echoing Jean-Luc Godard 's Two or Three Things I Know About Her and strong story plots from Roald Dahl 's Lamb to the slaughter and Truman Capote 's A Day's work , but with Almodóvar's unique approach to film making. Matador (1986) Almodóvar's growing success caught

1729-664: A lithium-ion battery factory participated by Envision in Navalmoral de la Mata was announced in June 2022. As of January 1, 2012, the population of Extremadura is 1,109,367 inhabitants, representing 2.36% of the Spanish population (46,745,807). The population density is very low—25/km (65/sq mi)—compared to Spain as a whole. The urban network is dominated by three municipalities between 50,000 and 200,000 inhabitants ( Badajoz , Cáceres and Mérida ), followed by Plasencia ,

1862-403: A lot in the film I like". Dark Habits (1983) For his next film Dark Habits (1983), Almodóvar was approached by multi-millionaire Hervé Hachuel who wanted to start a production company to make films starring his girlfriend, Cristina Sánchez Pascual. Hachuel set up Tesuaro Production and asked Almodóvar to keep Pascual in mind. Almodóvar had already written the script for Dark Habits and

1995-444: A means of setting Czech declamation correctly: his melodramas Štědrý den (1874) and Vodník (1883) use rhythmic durations to specify the alignment of spoken word and accompaniment. Fibich's main achievement was Hippodamie (1888–1891), a trilogy of full-evening staged melodramas on the texts of Jaroslav Vrchlický with multiple actors and orchestra, composed in an advanced Wagnerian musical style. Josef Suk 's main contributions at

2128-450: A novella, Fuego en las entrañas ( Fire in the Guts ) and kept writing stories that were eventually published in a compilation volume entitled El sueño de la razón ( The Dream of Reason ). Almodóvar bought his first camera, a Super-8 , with his first paycheck from Telefónica when he was 22 years old, and began to make hand-held short films. Around 1974, he made his first short film, and by

2261-613: A post currently held by María Guardiola of the People's Party . The Day of Extremadura is celebrated on 8 September. It coincides with the Catholic festivity of Our Lady of Guadalupe . The region, featuring an enormous energy surplus and hosting lithium deposits, is at the forefront of Spain's plans for energy transition and decarbonisation . Extremadura is contained between 37° 57 ′ and 40° 29 ′ N latitude, and 4° 39 ′ and 7° 33 ′ W longitude. The area of Extremadura

2394-414: A power of 1,048.43 MW and 1,044.45 MW. The region is at the forefront of Spain's plans for energy transition and a decarbonisation , thanks to the installation of large solar power plants and the granting of lithium mining licenses. Such prospects sparked criticism and concern regarding how to avoid a "third energy colonisation" after those of the construction of reservoirs for hydroelectric use and

2527-583: A reflection of issues brought up by the French Revolution , the Industrial Revolution and the shift to modernization. Many melodramas were about a middle-class young woman who experienced unwanted sexual advances from an aristocratic miscreant, the sexual assault being a metaphor for class conflict. The melodrama reflected post-Industrial Revolution anxieties of the middle class, who was afraid of both aristocratic power brokers and

2660-617: A romantic comedy, and the director's most clear love story, with a plot similar to William Wyler 's thriller The Collector . Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival to a polarized critical reaction. In the United States, the film received an X rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the stigma attached to the X rating marginalized

2793-429: A scene within a play or an opera. It was only later, in the nineteenth century, that the term lost its association with music and began to be used for plays with sentimental and sensational plots typical of popular Victorian drama . The earliest known examples of melodrama are scenes in J. E. Eberlin's Latin school play Sigismundus (1753). The first full melodrama was Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's monodrama Pygmalion ,

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2926-403: A servant of the aged parent engaged in a sensational plot featuring themes of love and murder. Often the good but not very clever hero is duped by a scheming villain, who has eyes on the damsel in distress until fate intervenes at the end to ensure the triumph of good over evil. Two central features were the coup de théàtre, or reversal of fortune, and the claptrap: a back-to-the-wall oration by

3059-522: A small rural town of the Province of Ciudad Real in Spain. He has two older sisters, Antonia and María Jesús, and one brother Agustín . His father, Antonio Almodóvar, was a winemaker, and his mother, Francisca Caballero (b.1916), who died in 1999, was a letter reader and transcriber for illiterate neighbours. When Almodóvar was eight years old, the family sent him to study at a religious boarding school in

3192-722: A soundtrack because it was very difficult. The magnetic strip was very poor, very thin. I remember that I became very famous in Madrid because, as the films had no sound, I took a cassette with music while I personally did the voices of all the characters, songs and dialogues". After four years of working with shorts in Super-8 format, Almodóvar made his first full-length film Folle, folle, fólleme, Tim ( Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Tim ) in Super-8 in 1978, followed by his first 16 mm short Salomé . Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) Almodóvar made his first feature film Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) with

3325-575: A status as 'old moriscos'. At the height of 1612, there were reports of remaining moriscos in Trujillo, Mérida and Plasencia. Located in the most able path from the Meseta Central to Portugal, the territory suffered greatly due to warfare from the 1640–1668 Portuguese Restoration War , characterised not by the movement of large armies but for pillage, skirmishes, raids, and destruction of economic resources and settlements across both sides of

3458-484: A territorial subdivision ( kūra ) of the former polities centered on Mérida. Following the collapse of the Caliphate in the early 11th century during the so-called Fitna of al-Andalus and its ensuing fragmentation into ephemeral statelets ( taifas ), the bulk of the territory of current day Extremadura became part of the (First) Taifa of Badajoz ( Baṭalyaws ), centered around the namesake city and founded by Sapur ,

3591-478: A very low budget of 400,000 pesetas , shooting it in 16 mm and later blowing it up into 35 mm. The film was based on a comic strip titled General Erections that he had written and revolves around the unlikely friendship between Pepi (Carmen Maura), who wants revenge on a corrupt policeman who raped her, a masochistic housewife named Luci (Eva Siva), and Bom (Alaska), a lesbian punk rock singer. Inspired by La Movida Madrileña , Pepi, Luci, Bom expressed

3724-605: Is 41,633 km (16,075 sq mi), making it the fifth largest of the Spanish autonomous communities. It is located in the Southern Plateau (a subdivision of the Spanish Central Plateau ). The region is crossed from West to East by two large rivers, the Tagus and the Guadiana , lining up three basic areas from North to South by combining mountain ranges and rivers: the territory spanning from

3857-474: Is a landlocked autonomous community of Spain . Its capital city is Mérida , and its largest city is Badajoz . Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula , it is crossed from east to west by the Tagus and Guadiana rivers. The autonomous community is formed by the two largest provinces of Spain : Cáceres and Badajoz . Extremadura is bordered by Portugal to the west and by

3990-422: Is a profusion of technical flaws, it is called style. That's what I said joking around when I was promoting the film, but I believe that that was closer to the truth". Pepi, Luci, Bom premiered at the 1980 San Sebastián International Film Festival and despite negative reviews from conservative critics, the film amassed a cult following in Spain. It toured the independent circuits before spending three years on

4123-504: Is also frequently used in Spanish zarzuela , both in the 19th and 20th centuries, and continued also to be used as a "special effect" in opera, for instance Richard Strauss 's Die Frau ohne Schatten . In Paris, the 19th century saw a flourishing of melodrama in the many theatres that were located on the popular Boulevard du Crime , especially in the Gaîté . All this came to an end, however, when most of these theatres were demolished during

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4256-527: Is also known for directing several short films including The Human Voice (2020) and Strange Way of Life (2023). He made his first English-language feature film with The Room Next Door (2024), which won the Golden Lion at the 81st Venice International Film Festival . Almodóvar has received numerous accolades , including two Academy Awards , five BAFTA Awards , two Emmy Awards , two Golden Globe Awards , and nine Goya Awards . He has received

4389-410: Is available online, complete with several melodramas, for instance, No. 12 found here. A few operettas exhibit melodrama in the sense of music played under spoken dialogue, for instance, Gilbert and Sullivan 's Ruddigore (itself a parody of melodramas in the modern sense) has a short "melodrame" (reduced to dialogue alone in many productions) in the second act; Jacques Offenbach 's Orpheus in

4522-550: Is built around the fractured relationship between a famous singer, Becky del Páramo (Marisa Paredes), and her news reporter daughter, Rebeca (Victoria Abril), as the pair get caught up in a murder mystery. Rebeca struggles with constantly being in her mother's shadow. The fact that Rebeca is married to Becky's former lover only adds to the tension between the two. The film was partly inspired by old Hollywood mother-daughter melodramas like Stella Dallas , Mildred Pierce , Imitation of Life and particularly Autumn Sonata , which

4655-697: Is nearly always pejorative. The term was first used in English in 1784 (in 1782 as melo drame ) and came from the French word mélodrame ( c.  1772 ), which was itself derived from Greek μέλος ("song" or "music") and French drame ("drama"). The relationship of melodrama and realism is complex. Protagonists of melodramatic works may be ordinary (and hence realistically drawn) people who are caught up in extraordinary events or highly exaggerated and unrealistic characters. With regard to its high emotions and dramatic rhetoric, melodrama represents

4788-492: Is quoted directly in the film. Production took place in 1990; Almodóvar enlisted Alfredo Mayo to shoot the film as Jose Luis Alcaine was unavailable. Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto created a score that infused popular songs and boleros . High Heels also contains a prison yard dance sequence. While High Heels was a box office success in Spain, the film received poor reviews from Spanish film critics due to its melodramatic approach and unsuspecting tonal shifts. The film got

4921-461: Is the largest province in Spain. 413,766 people live in the province of Cáceres at a density of 20.83/km (53.9/sq mi), having an area of 19,868 km (7,671 sq mi), making it the largest province in Spain after Badajoz. As of 2020, the largest foreign community is that of Romanian nationals with 8,173 people, followed by Moroccans with 7,400. Portuguese account for 3,188, Chinese for 1,655 and Colombians make up 1,555. The region had

5054-443: Is to find one another, overcome their sexual preferences and live happily ever after on a tropical island. Framed in Madrid during La Movida Madrileña, between the dissolution of Franco's authoritarian regime and the onset of AIDS consciousness, Labyrinth of Passion caught the spirit of liberation in Madrid and it became a cult film. The film marked Almodóvar's first collaboration with cinematographer Ángel Luis Fernandez as well as

5187-597: The Raya . The growing role of the fortified place of Badajoz (halfway between Lisbon and Madrid), in the wake of the installment of the Captaincy General of Extremadura consolidated the clout of the military in the region. By the late 18th century, the Extremaduran countryside languished, experiencing a deep crisis. There was a diminishing share of land dedicated to crops. The growing cattle sector induced

5320-411: The "Pimentón de la Vera" PDO  [ es ] , consisting of the comarcas of La Vera, Campo Arañuelo, Valle del Ambroz and Valle del Alagón . The PDO produced 3,860 tonnes in 2020. About half the value of the regional industrial production belongs to the energy sector . Extremadura presents a huge energy surplus, producing about four times the energy it consumes. This situation has led to

5453-807: The Alagón (rightbank) and the Almonte , Ibor , Salor and the Sever (leftbank). Regarding the Guadiana, important leftbank tributaries include Guadarranque and Ruecas and rightbank tributaries include the Zújar River and the Matachel . The highest point in Extremadura, the 2,401 m (7,877 ft) high Calvitero (or El Torreón), is located in the Sistema Central, in the northeastern end of

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5586-599: The Berlin International Film Festival in 1987, where it won the festival's first ever Teddy Award , which recognises achievement in LGBT cinema. The film was a hit in art-house theatres and received much praise from critics. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) Almodóvar's first major critical and commercial success internationally came with the release of Women on the Verge of

5719-489: The Don Benito - Villanueva de la Serena conurbation and Almendralejo . Other municipalities with a population above 10,000 inhabitants include Zafra , Montijo , Villafranca de los Barros , Navalmoral de la Mata and Coria . The most populous province is that of Badajoz , with a population of 691,715 and a population density of 31.78/km (82.3/sq mi). With an area of 21,766 km (8,404 sq mi), it

5852-550: The Köppen climate classification ). Extremadura generally presents average annual temperatures somewhat warmer than most of the Iberian Peninsula, featuring nonetheless a north–south gradient. Annual thermal amplitude generally ranges from 16 to 19 °C. Average annual precipitation stands at around 600 mm. Parts of the Sistema Central presents more than 1,500 mm while it barely rains 400 mm in parts of

5985-567: The Provincial Deputation of Badajoz and the Provincial Deputation of Cáceres . The members of the plenary of the deputation are indirectly elected from among the municipal councillors based on the results of the municipal elections. In turn, the plenary elects the president of the deputation from among its members. The gross domestic product (GDP) of Extremadura was 20 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 1.7% of Spanish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power

6118-690: The Sistema Central to the Tagus, the so-called Mesopotamia extremeña in between the Tagus and the Guadiana and the territory from the Guadiana to Sierra Morena . Besides the catchment basins of the Tagus and the Guadiana covering most of the territory by far, fringe areas of the region are drained by the Douro (north) and the Guadalquivir (south). Notable Tagus tributaries include the Tiétar and

6251-770: The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and Lisle's Tennis Court in Lincoln's Inn Fields , the latter of which moved to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1720 (now the Royal Opera House ). The two patent theatres closed in the summer months. To fill the gap, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket became a third patent theatre in London in 1766. Further letters patent were eventually granted to one theatre in each of several other English towns and cities. Other theatres presented dramas that were underscored with music and, borrowing

6384-884: The Venice Film Festival and was surrounded in controversy due its subject matter. Despite religious critics being offended by the film, it went on to become a modest critical and commercial success, cementing Almodóvar's reputation as the enfant terrible of the Spanish cinema . What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984) Carmen Maura stars in What Have I Done to Deserve This? , Almodóvar's fourth film, as Gloria, an unhappy housewife who lives with her ungrateful husband Antonio ( Ángel de Andrés López ), her mother in law ( Chus Lampreave ), and her two teenage sons. Verónica Forqué appears as her prostitute neighbor and confidante. Almodóvar has described his fourth film as

6517-583: The Venice film festival and two awards at the European Film Awards as well as being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the BAFTAs and Golden Globes . It also gave Almodóvar his first Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film . Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) Almodóvar's next film marked the end of the collaboration between him and Carmen Maura, and the beginning of

6650-399: The rebuilding of Paris by Baron Haussmann in 1862. By the end of the 19th century, the term melodrama had nearly exclusively narrowed down to a specific genre of salon entertainment: more or less rhythmically spoken words (often poetry) – not sung, sometimes more or less enacted, at least with some dramatic structure or plot – synchronized to the accompaniment of music (usually piano). It

6783-745: The tobacco produced in Spain, also being the leading European producing region. Tobacco production concentrates in La Vera and Campo Arañuelo . Tomato production (2,122,000 tonnes in 2017) primarily concentrates in the riverbanks of the Guadiana and the Alagón-Árrago. A large part of the region falls within the scope of the Ribera del Guadiana PDO , which is further divided in the Ribera Alta, Tierra de Barros , Matanegra, Ribera Baja, Montánchez, and Cañamero wine subregions. The PDO protects

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6916-422: The wines made of several varieties of black and white grapes. As of 2021, Extremadura is the second largest rice producing region in Spain, after Andalusia. Due to drought and high water demands from rice fields, non-irrigated rice fields have been favoured since the late 2010s. Together with Murcia, Extremadura is a major producer of paprika , primarily destined to the Spanish market. Peppers are grown in

7049-605: The 1930s until the late 1960s, Hays Code restrictions on the inclusion of "licentious" content in films would restrict the portrayal of female desire in the American film melodrama. During the 1940s, the British Gainsborough melodramas were successful with audiences. In the 1950s, films by director Douglas Sirk , such as All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Written on the Wind (1956), are representative of

7182-602: The Castilian founding of Plasencia in 1186) not free from setbacks either caused by the Almoravid and Almohad impetus, which also entailed the demise of the first and second taifa of Badajoz in 1094 and 1150, respectively. In the Almohad case, their 1174 offensive removed Leonese control from every fortress south of the Tagus (including Cáceres ). After the Almohad disaster at the 1212 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa ,

7315-877: The French Legion of Honour in 1997, the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 1999, the European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award in 2013, and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2019. He has also received honorary doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 2009 and from the University of Oxford in 2016. Pedro Almodóvar Caballero was born on 25 September 1949 in Calzada de Calatrava ,

7448-450: The French term, called it melodrama to get around the restriction. The Theatres Act 1843 finally allowed all theatres to play drama. In the early 19th century, opera's influence led to musical overtures and incidental music for many plays. In 1820, Franz Schubert wrote a melodrama, Die Zauberharfe ("The Magic Harp"), setting music behind the play written by G. von Hofmann. It was unsuccessful, like all Schubert's theatre ventures, but

7581-660: The Gothic, the next popular subgenre was the nautical melodrama, pioneered by Douglas Jerrold in his Black-Eyed Susan (1829). Other nautical melodramas included Jerrold's The Mutiny at the Nore (1830) and The Red Rover (1829) by Edward Fitzball (Rowell 1953). Melodramas based on urban situations became popular in the mid-nineteenth century, including The Streets of London (1864) by Dion Boucicault ; and Lost in London (1867) by Watts Phillips, while prison melodrama, temperance melodrama, and imperialist melodrama also appeared –

7714-548: The Granadan moriscos. Two generations later, the expulsion of the moriscos from the region began in 1609, starting with the moriscos of Hornachos, the first expulsion in the Crown of Castile. By September 1610 about two thirds of the moriscos of Extremadura had been already expelled and by 1611 the number amounted to 12,776. Those who avoided the early orders of expulsion abided to reports of being 'good Christians' or claimed

7847-590: The Rise of English Melodrama.” Essays in Romanticism . 29.1 (April 2022): 1-31. Williams, Carolyn, ed. ‘’The Cambridge Companion to English Melodrama.’’ University of Cambridge Press, 2018. Extremadura Extremadura ( / ˌ ɛ k s t r ə m ə ˈ dj ʊər ə / EK -strə-mə- DURE -ə ; Spanish: [e(ɣ)stɾemaˈðuɾa] ; Extremaduran : Estremaúra [ehtːɾemaˈuɾa] ; Portuguese : Estremadura ; Fala : Extremaúra )

7980-491: The Soul (1974). The 1980s saw a resurgence in American "women's" melodramas such as Terms of Endearment (1983), Beaches (1988), and Steel Magnolias (1989). On television, the miniseries was a popular format for lavish, female-centric melodramas such as Scruples (1980), Lace (1984), and Sins (1986). Melodramas like the 1990s TV Moment of Truth movies targeted audiences of American women by portraying

8113-412: The Spanish phone company Telefónica , where he worked for 12 years. In the early 1970s, Almodóvar became interested in experimental cinema and theatre. He collaborated with the vanguard theatrical group Los Goliardos, in which he played his first professional roles and met actress Carmen Maura . Madrid's flourishing alternative cultural scene became the perfect scenario for Almodóvar's social talents. He

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8246-507: The Tagus is better suited for hydroelectric use than the Guadiana. As of 2021, the region has around 2,193.84 MW of installed hydroelectric power, primarily controlled by Endesa and Iberdrola , with a lesser role of Grupo Pitarch. The two reactors of the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant (which were put in operation in 1981 and 1983, respectively) are jointly operated by Endesa, Iberdrola and Naturgy . They generate

8379-677: The US, jamón ibérico directly from Extremadura, with bone, was illegal until around 2005. At that time, enough US restaurants were in demand for the delicacy that Spain decided to export it as boneless, which the US Department of Agriculture 's health codes would approve (and continue to do). 85 Extremaduran municipalities constitute the jurisdiction of the "Dehesa de Extremadura" Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), which protects jamones and paletas (hind and front pig legs) originated from Iberian pigs and mixed Iberian/ Duroc -Jersey pigs. As of 2021, Extremadura produces about 98% of

8512-576: The Underworld opens with a melodrama delivered by the character of "Public Opinion"; and other pieces from operetta and musicals may be considered melodramas, such as the "Recit and Minuet" in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer . As an example from the American musical, several long speeches in Lerner and Loewe 's Brigadoon are delivered over an accompaniment of evocative music. The technique

8645-483: The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown centres on Pepa (Carmen Maura), a woman who has been abruptly abandoned by her married boyfriend Iván ( Fernando Guillén ). Over two days, Pepa frantically tries to track him down. In the course, she discovers some of his secrets and realises her true feelings. Almodóvar included many of his usual actors, including Antonio Banderas, Chus Lampreave, Rossy de Palma , Kiti Mánver and Julieta Serrano as well as newcomer María Barranco . The film

8778-907: The Villain: Six English and American Melodramas. Benjamin Blom, 1967. Booth, Michael, ed. ‘’The Lights O’ London and Other Victorian Plays.’’ Oxford University Press, 1995. Bratton, Jacky, Jim Cook, and Christine Gledhill, eds. Melodrama: Stage, Picture, Screen. British Film Institute, 1994. Buckley, Matthew S. ‘’Tragedy Walks the Streets: The French Revolution and the Making of Modern Drama.’’ The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Hambridge, Katherine, and Jonathan Hicks, eds. ‘’The Melodramatic Moment: Music and Theatrical Culture, 1790-1820. University of Chicago Press, 2018. Robinson, Terry F. “Deaf Education and

8911-455: The Western world. However, it is still widely popular in other regions, particularly in Asia and in Hispanic countries. Melodrama is one of the main genres (along with romance, comedy and fantasy) used in Latin American television dramas (telenovelas), particularly in Venezuela , Mexico , Colombia , Argentina and Brazil , and in Asian television dramas, South Korea , Japan , Taiwan , China , Pakistan , Thailand , India , Turkey and (in

9044-403: The actress and her kidnapper literally struggling for power and desperate for love. The film's title line Tie Me Up! is unexpectedly uttered by the actress as a genuine request. She does not know if she will try to escape or not, and when she realizes she has feelings for her captor, she prefers not to be given a chance. In spite of some dark elements, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! can be described as

9177-405: The attention of emerging Spanish film producer Andrés Vicente Gómez , who wanted to join forces to make his next film Matador (1986). The film centres on the relationship between a former bullfighter and a murderous female lawyer, who both find sexual fulfillment through acts of murder. Written together with Spanish novelist Jesús Ferrero , Matador drew away from the naturalism and humour of

9310-430: The autonomous communities of Castile and León (north), Castilla–La Mancha (east), and Andalusia (south). It is an important area for wildlife, particularly with the major reserve at Monfragüe , which was designated a National Park in 2007, and the International Tagus River Natural Park ( Parque Natural Tajo Internacional ). The regional government is led by the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura ,

9443-454: The building of nuclear power plants . Two of the largest photovoltaic power plants in Europe are located in the region: Francisco Pizarro (590 MW) in Torrecillas de la Tiesa and Núñez de Balboa (500 MW) in Usagre ; both are operated by Iberdrola, which is developing another 6 photovoltaic plants collectively amounting to 1,300 MW. The first solar thermal power plant in the region, Alvarado I , (50 MW) opened in 2009. A project to build

9576-624: The central western portion of the current day Spain. Mérida (now capital of Extremadura) became the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire . Like the bulk of the Iberian Peninsula, the territory was conquered by the Umayyads in the early 8th century . As part of the Emirate and later Caliphate of Córdoba , it largely constituted

9709-581: The characteristics of melodrama, his best-known work The Woman in White being regarded by some modern critics as "the most brilliant melodrama of the period". The villain is often the central character in melodrama, and crime was a favorite theme. This included dramatizations of the murderous careers of Burke and Hare , Sweeney Todd (first featured in The String of Pearls (1847) by George Dibdin Pitt ),

9842-407: The characterization of Extremadura as a potential "colony" of the private electricity companies, which are not taxed in the region and employ a relatively low share of the industrial workforce. The Tagus is dammed in the reservoirs of Alcántara , Torrejón and Valdecañas whereas the Guadiana is dammed in the reservoirs of Cíjara , Puerto Peña , Orellana and Zújar. Due to the orographic conditions,

9975-485: The city of Cáceres , Extremadura , in western Spain, with the hope that he might someday become a priest. His family eventually joined him in Cáceres, where his father opened a gas station and his mother opened a bodega in which she sold her own wine. Unlike Calzada, there was a cinema in Cáceres. "Cinema became my real education, much more than the one I received from the priest", he said later in an interview. Almodóvar

10108-413: The complex way he depicted transgender characters on screen. Almodóvar said about Law of Desire : "It's the key film in my life and career. It deals with my vision of desire, something that's both very hard and very human. By this I mean the absolute necessity of being desired and the fact that in the interplay of desires it's rare that two desires meet and correspond". Law of Desire made its premiere at

10241-532: The context of a private home. Its intended audience is a female spectator, but a male viewer can also enjoy its presentation of resolved tensions in a home. Melodrama generally looks back at ideal, nostalgic eras, emphasizing "forbidden longings". Melodrama was associated with the rise of capitalism in the 19th century. French romantic drama and sentimental novels were popular in both England and France. These dramas and novels focused on moral codes in regard to family life, love, and marriage, and they can be seen as

10374-505: The creation of yet more pastures, adding up to the structural problem stemmed from the extraordinary degree of concentration of land ownership . By the end of the Ancien Régime, the clergy, municipal councils and the royal army mattered more than the lesser role of the entitled nobility. Railways were developed in the second half of the 19th century. In September 1863, a passenger train arrived to Badajoz from Elvas , Portugal. It

10507-440: The days of Ludwig van Beethoven ( Egmont ) and Franz Schubert ( Rosamunde ). (This type of often-lavish production is now mostly limited to film (see film score ) due to the cost of hiring an orchestra. Modern recording technology is producing a certain revival of the practice in theatre, but not on the former scale.) A particularly complete version of this form, Sullivan's incidental music to Tennyson's The Foresters ,

10640-568: The director's previous work into a deeper and darker terrain. Almodóvar cast several of his regulars actors in key roles: Antonio Banderas was hired for the role of Ángel, a bullfighting student who, after an attempted rape incident, falsely confesses to a series of murders that he did not commit; Julieta Serrano appears as Ángel's very religious mother; while Carmen Maura, Chus Lampreave, Verónica Forqué and Eusebio Poncela also appear in minor roles. Newcomers Nacho Martínez and Assumpta Serna , who would later work with Almodóvar again, had minor roles in

10773-606: The distribution of the film in the country. Miramax , who distributed the film in the US, filed a lawsuit against the MPAA over the X rating, but lost in court. However, in September 1990, the MPAA replaced the X rating with the NC-17 rating. This was helpful to films of explicit nature, like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! , that were previously categorized with pornography because of the X rating. High Heels (1991) High Heels (1991)

10906-464: The effective expulsion of nearly a 40% of the population, particularly young people. A pre-autonomous government entity in Extremadura (the "Junta Regional de Extremadura") with jurisdiction over the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres was created by means of a 1978 law. The draft of the regional Statute of Autonomy began in 1980, the first step toward Extremadura becoming one of the Spanish autonomous communities . The text passed its final hurdle as it

11039-447: The effects of alcoholism , domestic violence , rape and the like. Typical of the 90's melodrama is Anjelica Huston 's 1999 film Agnes Browne . Todd Haynes ' films Far from Heaven (2002), Carol (2015), and May December (2023) are more recent takes on the melodrama. Contemporary director Pedro Almodovar has also taken many inspirations from the melodramatic genre and directors like Sirk. Booth, Michael, ed. ‘’Hiss

11172-725: The end of the 1970s they were shown in Madrid 's night circuit and in Barcelona . These shorts had overtly sexual narratives and no soundtrack: Dos putas, o, Historia de amor que termina en boda ( Two Whores, or, A Love Story that Ends in Marriage ) in 1974; La caída de Sodoma ( The Fall of Sodom ) in 1975; Homenaje ( Homage ) in 1976; La estrella ( The Star ) in 1977; Sexo Va: Sexo viene ( Sex Comes and Goes ); and Complementos (Shorts) in 1978, his first film in 16mm . He remembers, "I showed them in bars, at parties... I could not add

11305-432: The film melodrama: those with a female patient, a maternal figure, an "impossible love", and the paranoid melodrama. Most film melodramas from the 1930s and 1940s, at the time known as "weepies" or "tearjerkers", were adaptations of women's fiction, such as romance novels and historical romances. Drawing from a shared history with women's fiction, melodramatic films often concentrate on female perspectives and desires. From

11438-504: The film. Matador also marked the first time Almodóvar included a notable cinematic reference, using King Vidor 's Duel in the Sun in one scene. The film premiered in 1986 and drew some controversy due to its subject matter. Almodóvar justified his use of violence, explaining "The moral of all my films is to get to a stage of greater freedom". Almodóvar went on to note: "I have my own morality. And so do my films. If you see Matador through

11571-488: The first of several collaborations with actor Antonio Banderas . Labyrinth of Passion premiered at the 1982 San Sebastian Film Festival and while the film received better reviews than its predecessor, Almodóvar later acknowledged: "I like the film even if it could have been better made. The main problem is that the story of the two leads is much less interesting than the stories of all the secondary characters. But precisely because there are so many secondary characters, there's

11704-475: The first season of the Henry Wood Proms in London. It was probably also at this time when the connotation of cheap overacting first became associated with the term. As a cross-over genre-mixing narration and chamber music, it was eclipsed nearly overnight by a single composition: Schoenberg 's Pierrot Lunaire (1912), where Sprechgesang was used instead of rhythmically spoken words, and which took

11837-408: The fourth quarter of the 18th century. Georg Benda was particularly successful with his duodramas Ariadne auf Naxos (1775) and Medea (1775). The sensational success of Benda's melodramas led others to compose similar works. Mozart, for example, spoke approvingly of Benda's music and later used two long melodramatic monologues in his opera Zaide (1780). Later and better-known examples of

11970-510: The genre to be a uniquely "Czech" contribution to music history (based on the national origins of Georg Benda , whose melodramas had nevertheless been in German). Such sentiments provoked a large number of Czech composers to produce melodramas based on Czech romantic poetry, such as the Kytice of Karel Jaromír Erben . The romantic composer Zdeněk Fibich in particular championed the genre as

12103-676: The genre. Many later melodramatic filmmakers cite Sirk and his works as significant influences. In the 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder , who was influenced by Sirk, contributed to the genre by engaging with issues within the cultural subconscious, addressing class in The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971) and Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975), sexual orientation and codependency in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) and racism, xenophobia, and ageism in Fear Eats

12236-475: The hero which forces the audience to applaud. English melodrama evolved from the tradition of populist drama established during the Middle Ages by mystery and morality plays , under influences from Italian commedia dell'arte as well as German Sturm und Drang drama and Parisian melodrama of the post-Revolutionary period. A notable French melodramatist was Pixérécourt whose La Femme à deux maris

12369-468: The impoverished working class "mob". Melodrama arose in the second half of the 18th century as a genre intermediate between play and opera. It combined spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music. Music and spoken dialogue typically alternated in such works, although the music was sometimes also used to accompany pantomime . If there is one actor, the term monodrama may be used; if there are two— duodrama . It also sometimes appeared as

12502-406: The industrialised areas of Spain (already started in 1955) as well as to richer European countries (such as Germany, France and Switzerland), both of which notably intensified after 1961, in the wake of the 1959 Stabilization Plan (and in the second case also after bilateral agreements reached with destination countries). The region henceforth was handed a demographic blow in the ensuing years, with

12635-555: The larger Montes de Toledo system. The Sierra Morena —the limit between Extremadura and Andalusia —and the Sierra de Tentudía (topping at 1,104 m (3,622 ft) on the Pico Tentudía ) rise in the south. There are four different hydrographic basins: The climate of Extremadura is predominantly hot-summer Mediterranean ( Csa in the Köppen climate classification ), with some regions being cold semi-arid ( BSk in

12768-486: The late Middle Ages, the territory of the current-day region consisted of mayorazgos of the military orders of Santiago and Alcántara (about half the territory), nobiliary lordships (about a quarter of the territory) and royal demesne towns (the other quarter of the territory). In between the 15th and 16th centuries, the concept of the Leonese and Castilian extremaduras diluted and the name eventually came to refer to

12901-518: The late night showing of the Alphaville Theater in Madrid. The film's irreverence towards sexuality and social mores has prompted contemporary critics to compare it to the 1970s films of John Waters . Labyrinth of Passion (1982) His second feature Labyrinth of Passion (1982) focuses on nymphomaniac pop star, Sexila (Cecilia Roth), who falls in love with a gay middle-eastern prince, Riza Niro (Imanol Arias). Their unlikely destiny

13034-479: The latter typically featuring the three categories of the 'good' native, the brave but wicked native, and the treacherous native. The sensation novels of the 1860s, and 1870s not only provided fertile material for melodramatic adaptations but are melodramatic in their own right. A notable example of this genre is Lady Audley's Secret by Elizabeth Braddon adapted, in two different versions, by George Roberts and C.H. Hazlewood. The novels of Wilkie Collins have

13167-415: The lives of an American writer (Peter Coyote) and his stepson (Àlex Casanovas). A fashion conscious TV reporter (Victoria Abril), who is constantly in search of sensational stories, follows Kika's misadventures. Almodóvar used Kika as a critique of mass media , particularly its sensationalism . The film is infamous for its rape scene that Almodóvar used for comic effect to set up a scathing commentary on

13300-543: The melodrama genre was at the time a popular one. In an age of underpaid musicians, many 19th-century plays in London had an orchestra in the pit. In 1826, Felix Mendelssohn wrote his well-known overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream , and later supplied the play with incidental music. In Verdi 's La Traviata , Violetta receives a letter from Alfredo's father where he writes that Alfredo now knows why she parted from him and that he forgives her ("Teneste la promessa..."). In her speaking voice, she intones

13433-734: The melodramatic style in operas are the grave-digging scene in Beethoven's Fidelio (1805) and the incantation scene in Weber's Der Freischütz (1821). After the English Restoration of Charles II in 1660 lifted the Puritan ban on theatre, most British theatres were prohibited from performing "serious" drama but were permitted to show comedy or plays with music. Charles II issued letters patent to permit only two London theatre companies to perform "serious" drama. These were

13566-532: The mid 20th century, the Francoist dictatorship pursued a policy of colonization and agrarian reform in the region to foster the economy, transforming thousands of hectares of dryland crops into irrigated lands, also favouring the erection of 63 new settlements by the Instituto Nacional de Colonización (INC). The second half of the 20th century saw a massive rural flight out of the region, both to

13699-554: The most internationally successful Spanish filmmakers, Almodóvar and his films have developed a cult following . Almodóvar's career developed during La Movida Madrileña , a cultural renaissance that followed the end of Francoist Spain . His early films characterised the sense of sexual and political freedom of the period. In 1986, he established his own film production company, El Deseo , with his younger brother Agustín Almodóvar , who has been responsible for producing all of his films since Law of Desire (1987). His breakthrough film

13832-474: The murder of Maria Marten in the Red Barn and the bizarre exploits of Spring Heeled Jack . The misfortunes of a discharged prisoner are the theme of the sensational The Ticket-of-Leave Man (1863) by Tom Taylor . Early silent films, such as The Perils of Pauline had similar themes. Later, after silent films were superseded by the 'talkies', stage actor Tod Slaughter , at the age of 50, transferred to

13965-557: The perspective of traditional morality, it's a dangerous film because it's just a celebration of killing. Matador is like a legend. I don't try to be realistic; it's very abstract, so you don't feel identification with the things that are happening, but with the sensibility of this kind of romanticism". Law of Desire (1987) Following the success of Matador , Almodóvar solidified his creative independence by starting his own production company, El Deseo , together with his brother Agustín Almodóvar in 1986. El Deseo's first major release

14098-404: The plot. Melodramas focus on a victim. For example, a melodrama may present a person’s struggle between good and evil choices, such as a man being encouraged to leave his family by an "evil temptress". Stock characters include the "fallen woman", the single mother, the orphan, and the male who is struggling with the impacts of the modern world. The melodrama examines family and social issues in

14231-468: The population. Extremadura is divided into 383 municipalities. 164 are part of the Province of Badajoz and the other 219 are part of the Province of Cáceres . There are also traditional comarcas in Extremadura, like Las Villuercas and Las Hurdes , but these do not have much official recognition. The only official language is Spanish (whose local dialects are collectively called Castúo ), but other languages and dialects are also spoken. The Fala ,

14364-441: The previous decade. Wild Black Iberian pigs roam in the area and consume acorns from oak groves. These pigs are caught and used for the cured ham dish jamón ibérico . The higher the percentage of acorns eaten by the pigs, the more valuable the ham. For example, jamón ibérico from pigs whose diet consists of 90% acorns or more can be sold for more than twice as much as ham whose pigs ate on average less than 70% acorns. In

14497-543: The province of Badajoz in August 1936 and left merciless repression and mass casualties behind. Badajoz was the Spanish province where the Francoist repression comparatively took the highest relative toll of victims during the war and the immediate Post-War period; there were around 12,000 executions in the province (out of the 14,000 in the whole region), compared to around 1,600 victims of the Republican repression. In

14630-439: The province of Badajoz. Summers are very hot and dry, with the rain concentrated in the cold months instead, leading to a high degree of water stress during the summer months. During the time of the Roman Empire , the area that is known today as Autonomous Community of Extremadura was part of Lusitania , a Roman province that included most of current day Portugal (except for the northern area today known as Norte Region ) and

14763-515: The region, bordering with Castile and León. The main subranges of the Sistema Central in Extremadura are the Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Béjar . The modest heights of Sierra de las Villuercas (topping at 1,603 m (5,259 ft) on the Pico de las Villuercas ) rise in the Mesopotamia extremeña . Other notable ranges include the Sierra de Montánchez and the Sierra de San Pedro , part of

14896-490: The remaining part of current-day Extremadura under Muslim control fell to the troops led by Alfonso IX of León — Alcántara (1214), Cáceres (1227–1229), Mérida (1230), Badajoz (1230) —and later to the military orders of Santiago and Alcántara — Trujillo (1232), Medellín (1234) —on behalf of Ferdinand III of Castile . The last fortresses in the Lower Extremadura were conquered by Christians by 1248. By

15029-461: The screen the Victorian melodramas in which he had played a villain in his earlier theatrical career. These films, which include Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn (1935), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) and The Ticket of Leave Man (1937) are a unique record of a bygone art-form. Classic melodrama is less common than it used to be on television and in movies in

15162-502: The selfish and ruthless nature of media. Kika made its premiere in 1993 and received very negative reviews from film critics worldwide; not just for its rape scene which was perceived as both misogynistic and exploitative, but also for its overall sloppiness. Almodóvar would later refer to the film as one of his weakest works. The Flower of My Secret (1995) Melodrama In scholarly and historical musical contexts, melodramas are Victorian dramas in which orchestral music or song

15295-428: The sense of cultural and sexual freedom of the time with its many kitsch elements, campy style, outrageous humour and explicit sexuality (there is a golden shower scene in the middle of a knitting lesson). The film was noted for its lack of polished filming technique, but Almodóvar looked back fondly on the film's flaws. "When a film has only one or two [defects], it is considered an imperfect film, while when there

15428-530: The stage plays of the Osvobozené divadlo as melodrama (most notably the opening prologue of the anti-Fascist farce Osel a stín (1933), delivered by the character of Dionysus in bolero rhythm). Czech melodramas' practice tapered off after the Nazi Protectorate . The Victorian stage melodrama featured six stock characters : the hero, the villain, the heroine, an aged parent, a sidekick, and

15561-592: The territory of the current-day region. The territory lacked nonetheless shared government and administration institutions. In between 1570 and 1572, the Crown forcibly relocated about 11,000 moriscos into the territory as part of the deportation of Granadans that followed the defeat of the Alpujarras revolt . The distribution was somewhat chaotic although some places with an already "threatening" population of old moriscos (such as Hornachos , Magacela and Benquerencia ) were avoided as resettlement locations for

15694-631: The text of which was written in 1762; it was first staged in Lyon in 1770. Rousseau composed the overture and an Andante, but the bulk of the music was composed by Horace Coignet . A different musical setting of Rousseau's Pygmalion by Anton Schweitzer was performed in Weimar in 1772, and Goethe wrote of it approvingly in Dichtung und Wahrheit . Some 30 other monodramas were produced in Germany in

15827-639: The turn of the century include melodramas for two-stage plays by Julius Zeyer : Radúz a Mahulena (1898) and Pod Jabloní (1901), both of which had a long performance history. Following the examples of Fibich and Suk, many other Czech composers set melodramas as stand-alone works based on the poetry of the National Revival, among them Karel Kovařovic , Otakar Ostrčil , Ladislav Vycpálek , Otakar Jeremiáš , Emil Axman, and Jan Zelinka. Vítězslav Novák included portions of melodrama in his 1923 opera Lucerna , and Jaroslav Ježek composed key scenes for

15960-401: The typical melodramatic format, the characters work through their difficulties and surmount the problems. A common point of plot tension sees characters feeling trapped by the typical melodramatic of the domestic sphere of the home or small town. Filmmakers often add flashbacks to expand the otherwise constant settings of melodramatic films. Feminists have noted four categories of themes in

16093-417: The words of what is written, while the orchestra recapitulates the music of their first love from Act I: this is technically melodrama. In a few moments, Violetta bursts into a passionate despairing aria ("Addio, del passato"): this is opera again. In a similar manner, Victorians often added "incidental music" under the dialogue to a pre-existing play, although this style of composition was already practiced in

16226-552: Was Law of Desire (1987), a film about the complicated love triangle between a gay filmmaker (Eusebio Poncela), his transsexual sister (Carmen Maura), and a repressed murderously obsessive stalker (Antonio Banderas). Taking more risk from a visual standpoint, Almodóvar's growth as a filmmaker is clearly on display. In presenting the love triangle, Almodóvar drew away from most representations of homosexuals in films. The characters neither come out nor confront sexual guilt or homophobia; they are already liberated. The same can be said for

16359-796: Was Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film . He achieved further success often collaborating with actors Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz . He directed Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), High Heels (1991), and Live Flesh (1997). Almodóvar's next two films, All About My Mother (1999) and Talk to Her (2002), earned him an Academy Award each for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay , respectively. His later films Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009), The Skin I Live In (2011), Julieta (2016), Pain and Glory (2019), and Parallel Mothers (2021) were also praised. He

16492-579: Was 20,100 euros or 67% of the EU27 average in the same year. Extremadura was the community with the second lowest GDP per capita in Spain before Melilla . Export goods (mostly consisting of food and semimanufactures) are primarily sent to the European market , but there has been a growing share of non-EU export destinations throughout the 2010s. Balance of trade is generally positive. The unemployment rate stood at 17.3% in 2022, significantly lower than in

16625-632: Was a crucial figure in La Movida Madrileña (the Madrilenian Movement), a cultural renaissance that followed the death of Francisco Franco. Alongside Fabio McNamara, Almodóvar sang in a glam rock parody duo. Almodóvar also penned various articles for major newspapers and magazines, such as El País , Diario 16 and La Luna as well as contributing to comic strips, articles and stories in counterculture magazines, such as Star , El Víbora and Vibraciones . He published

16758-530: Was enshrined as Organic Law in 1982. The first election to the Assembly of Extremadura took place in May 1983. The Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura (enacted in 1983) is the fundamental organic law regulating the autonomous government, and it establishes the institutions through which the autonomous community exerts its powers: The government body for each of the provinces is the deputation ( diputación ):

16891-407: Was hesitant to cast Pascual in the leading role due to her limited acting experience. When she was cast, he felt it necessary to make changes to the script so his supporting cast were more prominent in the story. The film heralded a change in tone to somber melodrama with comic elements. Pascual stars as Yolanda, a cabaret singer who seeks refuge in a convent of eccentric nuns, each of whom explores

17024-478: Was influenced by Luis Buñuel . Against his parents' wishes, Almodóvar moved to Madrid in 1967 to become a filmmaker. When the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco , closed the National School of Cinema in Madrid, Almodóvar became self-taught. To support himself, Almodóvar had a number of jobs, including selling used items in the famous Madrid flea market El Rastro and as an administrative assistant with

17157-403: Was looked down on as a genre for authors and composers of lesser stature (probably also why virtually no realizations of the genre are still remembered) - though there are examples by Robert Schumann ( Ballads for Declaration , 1850s) and Richard Strauss for narrator and piano ( Enoch Arden (1897). The English composer Stanley Hawley made many such settings, some of which were performed at

17290-520: Was released in Spain in March 1988, and became a hit in the US, making over $ 7 million when it was released later that same year, bringing Almodóvar to the attention of American audiences. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown won five Goya Awards , Spain's top film honours, for Best Film , Best Original Screenplay , Best Editing (José Salcedo), Best Actress (Maura), and Best Supporting Actress (Barranco). The film won an award for best screenplay at

17423-564: Was the first train in the region and the first international service in the Iberian Peninsula. In 1866, the Badajoz–Ciudad Real line  [ es ] was completed, enabling the link with Madrid. The Madrid–Valencia de Alcántara line , a new connection passing through the province of Cáceres, was fully completed in 1881. During the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War , the Nationalist faction Columna Madrid advanced quickly across

17556-426: Was used to accompany the action. The term melodrama is now also applied to stage performances without incidental music, novels, films, television, and radio broadcasts. In modern contexts, the term melodrama is generally pejorative, as it suggests that the work in question lacks subtlety, character development, or both. By extension, language or behavior that resembles melodrama is often called melodramatic; this use

17689-527: Was very popular. The first English play to be called a melodrama or 'melodrame' was A Tale of Mystery (1802) by Thomas Holcroft . This was an example of the Gothic genre, a previous theatrical example of which was The Castle Spectre (1797) by Matthew Gregory Lewis . Other Gothic melodramas include The Miller and his Men (1813) by Isaac Pocock , The Woodsman's Hut (1814) by Samuel Arnold and The Broken Sword (1816) by William Dimond . Supplanting

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