Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980)
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Pepi, Luci, Bom Movie Review
Pepi, Luci, Bom is a 1980 Spanish black comedy film directed by Pedro Almodovar and starring Carmen Maura. It’s a very mediocre debut for the famous filmmaker.
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“Cinema isn’t life. Cinema is falsehood“
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After a young heiress is assaulted by a policeman, she seeks revenge by befriending the policeman’s mousy wife and introducing her to her circle of outrageous punk friends. This was the debut feature for Almodovar and it shows – it’s by far his least accomplished film technically speaking. It looks and sounds so bad that it can barely be considered a professional film, though there is some charm that springs from its rough edges.
This movie reminded me of ‘Salo’, though its tone is decidedly more comedic. This is, in fact, one of the rare comedies that Almodovar has made alongside the much more successful ‘I’m So Excited’. The humor did not work for me and the movie was just made for shock value, though again I did appreciate the director’s bravery at being so provocative with the theme of sexuality and kinks.
The bulk of this movie is just women pissing on each other, being masochistic and doing outrageous things. There are no gay men in this film for the most part (one drag queen is seen at one moment), but there is a lesbian couple. The director clearly positively depicted this lesbian relationship over the toxic heterosexual one.
Pepi, Luci, Bom is very well performed by its talented actresses, but the problem here is that none of them got any meaningful development or arcs. Masochism being depicted in such a positive and even funny manner was problematic, though I respected him for actually delving into fetishes all the way back in 1980.
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The movie is surely daring, but it is devoid of the signature polish and style of his later features, lacking strong cinematography, score and design. The worst offender here is the fact that there is no story, but just wild sexual scenarios with no purpose to them whatsoever. Those critics finding deeper themes here are very pretentious.
Pepi, Luci, Bom was the debut feature for Pedro Almodovar and it shows – this is by far his least accomplished movie technically speaking. It looks and sounds so bad that it can barely be considered a professional film, though admittedly there is some charm to be found in its rough edges. This film has no story to speak of as it was just an excuse for the director to indulge in wild sexual scenarios, fetishes and unhinged behavior. It’s a daring film for the time, but one that had no purpose to it other than to shock viewers.
My Rating – 2.5
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