An Almodóvar girl: five films to remember Marisa Paredes

Spanish cinema is mourning the departure of the ‘Almodóvar girl’ Marisa Paredes, a notable actress in the director’s career. There were many films in which he left a mark for future generations and the dramatic arts. Get to know the five films that highlight his stellar presence.

The films with which Marisa Paredes will be remembered

First film (Fernando Trueba, 1980)

The director Fernando Trueba called her to participate in First filmalso his directorial debut, that has gone down in history as a paradigm of ‘Madrid comedy’. The film followed the life of Matías (Óscar Ladoire), a 25-year-old divorced journalist who, walking through Madrid’s Opera Square, fell in love with his 18-year-old cousin Violeta (Paula Molina).

The feature film was a turning point in Paredes’ career, and three years later she became a coveted ‘Almodóvar girl’.

Between darkness (Pedro Almodóvar, 1983)

Paredes and Almodóvar began working together in 1983, with Entre tinieblas, a film about Yolanda Bel, a drug-addicted bolero singer who watches her boyfriend die from an overdose. After the tragic event, she decides to seclude herself in a convent of the “Humbled Redeemers” with the mission of protecting the wayward girls. One of the nuns who receive it will be Paredes’ character, ‘Sor Manure’.

Behind the glass (Agustí Villaronga,1986)

This film is set in World War II, directed by Agustí Villaronga. In him he embodied Griselda, the wife of Dr. Klaus (Günter Meisner), who tortured, murdered and abused many children in Nazi concentration camps..

His suicide attempt by jumping from the top of a tower once the fight was over leaves him quadriplegic, forcing him to live connected to an iron lung, counting only on the support of his wife and daughter Rena (Gisèle Echevarría).

Far Heels (Pedro Almodóvar, 1991)

In this film, Paredes plays the divto Becky del Páramo, a woman who is dedicated to the stage and who has a turbulent relationship with her daughter. The husband of Rebeca, her daughter, (Victoria Abril) was once Becky’s great love and when he dies, they both meet again. The judge handling the case (Miguel Bosé) is a drag-queen at night who imitates Becky.

His contract requires him to deliver three novels a year, but he has been missing deadlines for months, since now he can only write crime novels. Almodóvar continued to have the interpreter in other of his most notable films, such as All About My Mother (1999), Talk to Her (2002) and The Skin I Live In (2010).

The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)

The Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Todo cast Paredes as the protagonist of this gothic horror drama. Other figures also appear there, such as Roberto Benigni in life is beautiful and Arturo Ripstein in Deep Crimson and The colonel has no one to write to him.

Set in 1939, just after the Civil War, The devil’s backbone follows Carlos, a twelve-year-old boy who is abandoned by his guardian at the Santa Lucía orphanage, which takes in orphans of republican victims.. An isolated space in the middle of a wasteland, directed by the character played by Paredes, Carmen. Del Toro defines this feature film as his most personal work.

Spanish actress Marisa Paredes died at 78

The Spanish actress Marisa Paredes, with an extensive career that included several films with Pedro Almodóvar, died at the age of 78, reported this Tuesday the Spanish Film Academy. The artist was one of the first “Almodóvar girls” and had prominent roles in the films Heels Far, The Flower of My Secret, All About My Mother and The Skin I Live In, among others.

“Spanish cinema is left without one of its most iconic actresses, Marisa Paredes, who leaves behind a long career in which the public has been able to see her on more than 75 occasions on the big screen.“, they announced from the Film Academy on their X account to break the news of the interpreter’s death.