Are Female Artists Vampires?

A film by the master director Pedro Almodóvar about Pedro Almodóvar writing about Pedro Almodóvar? In very short form, that’s how you could describe the melodrama “A Bitter Feast” by the gay Spaniard. Yet it isn’t that simple.

Almodóvar (known worldwide for “All About My Mother” and “Talk to Her”), the most recognizable Spanish filmmaker on the international stage, uses the movie to pose a delicate question: To what extent can artists draw inspiration from the lives of people around them and then channel that material into their work? And when does a moral boundary get crossed?

What “A Bitter Feast” Is About

How Almodóvar thinks about it, the 77-year-old director explained to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. When asked whether artists are vampires, he simply replied: “Yes, they are.” Someone who creates art poses a danger to the people in their immediate circle, “because they subject everything around them to their inspiration.” But he added: “One must still try to be careful not to hurt others.”

“A Bitter Feast” takes up this conflict. On two narrative levels, the film interweaves the creative crisis of a gay filmmaker, Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia), with the life of an advertising executive, Elsa (Bárbara Lennie)—until it becomes clear that she is a figure in his screenplay. Raúl is drawing on stories from people in his orbit for his script, feeding off them—staying with the vampire metaphor.

Thus he lets tragic events from the life of his assistant Mónica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) inspire his work—which, naturally, upsets her. At the same time, his screenplay character Elsa draws inspiration from a friend for a scene in a script of her own.

A Nested Meta-Film in Bright Colors

“A Bitter Feast” moves across several meta levels, and while the idea is inventive, the result is often a bit tangled and cerebral. What always makes a film by Almodóvar worth watching, though, is his distinctive style: the director once again stages the story in his signature bright, visually lush color palettes.

There are plenty of entertaining moments, too. For example, Elsa explains to a doctor what a “cult director” is. In those scenes, one cannot help but wonder how much of Almodóvar himself—the filmmaker who often threads autobiographical elements into his characters—seeps into these roles.

Queer.de critic Fabian Schäfer described “A Bitter Feast” at its cinema release as “Almodóvar’s most personal self-scrutiny to date.” Raúl, who is slated to receive a queer prize and declines an invitation to a film festival in Qatar, reads as an unmistakable alter ego of the director.

Almodóvar: “Everything the director Raúl says, I would sign off on”

He said he recognizes himself in Raúl, during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film competed. Yet he stresses that it isn’t a simple copy of his life; the characters are complex and braided with many other influences. Speaking to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, he said: “Everything Raúl says in ‘A Bitter Feast’ I would sign.” He hasn’t experienced a creative crisis like this in that exact form—“fortunately.”

After its theatrical run at the end of July, “A Bitter Feast” is now available for home viewing: the queer drama has been digital since October 15, and is on DVD and Blu-ray since October 29.