SOURCE: "Melodrama Against Itself: Pedro Almodóvar's What Have I Done to Deserve This?" in Film Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 3, Spring, 1993, pp. 28-40.

In the following essay, Vernon analyzes the influence of American film melodrama on Almodóvar's work.

Central to what might be called the purposeful eclecticism of Pedro Almodóvar's cinematic universe is the model of American film melodrama, a source which the Spanish director has appropriated to notably effective and often unexpected ends. Indeed, the presence of American film culture is palpable throughout his work, from the photographs of Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor among the "greatest sinners of the world" in Entre tinieblas (Dark Habits) to the inclusion of clips from three well-known Hollywood films, Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass in ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?), King Vidor's Duel in the Sun in Matador, and...