Bad Education
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
- drama
- crime
The story
When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.
What it’s like
Glossy, saturated Almodóvar palette: deep reds, mustard, and jewel-toned interiors, with Madrid apartments in warm lamplight and cool, dim corridors of a Catholic boarding school rendered in grey stone and faded green. Camera moves are fluid and deliberate, with tracking shots, mirror framings, and nested frames that keep the past and present in conversation, and the film slips between them through a bold narrative structure that asks for attention. The score is lush and melodic, with strings swelling under emotional turns and pop numbers jolting in against the drama. The vibe is melancholic and sly at once, a noir-tinged reckoning with memory, desire, and betrayal. It suits a late evening alone or a deliberate, unhurried watch rather than background viewing. Pacing is controlled but layered, and the emotional register runs from wry to wrenching. Its arcs follow people reckoning with the shame and secrets of their pasts. Intensity is significant: sexual abuse of a child is depicted and discussed, with some explicit sexual content, drug use, and a few brief moments of violence, all landing with real weight. Not gentle. Best for adult viewers who want an emotionally complex, stylish drama about identity, memory, and the cost of concealment.
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