The Almodovar Collection Vol.1 (4 DVD)

The most celebrated Spanish filmmaker since Buñuel, director, screenwriter, composer and actor Pedro Almodóvar was born in Calzada de Calatrava, La Mancha, in 1951. Aged sixteen Almodóvar moved to Madrid and purchased his first movie camera and became familiar with what would later drive his formative films: the dramas and miseries of the Spanish middle classes at the beginning of the age of consumerism. Gradually graduating to 16mm, the completion of Almodóvar’s first feature, Pepe, Luci, Bom (1980) coincided with the birth of democracy in Spain.

The films in this box set include the director’s outrageous début– inspired by his time fronting a glam rock punk band – alongside Dark Habits (1983), What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984) and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). As well as sealing the collaborations that Almodóvar had made with the actors he met from his days in an independent theatre group (including Carmen Maura), the films from this period also display his acute visual style and recurring thematic obsessions such as sexual violence, female masochism and addiction. It was this epoch that also bought the first of numerous Academy Award nominations for Women on the Verge.