by Hal Erickson
synopsis
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?
characteristics
- Mother
- Homemaker
- Housewife
- Family
- Havoc
- Son
- Whore
- Narcotics
- Prostitute/prostitution
- Streetwalker
- Homosexual
- Courtesan
- Drugs
- Gay
- Call-girl