Desire Unlimited

by Paul Julian Smith

This text examines the work of Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish director whose nine features to date include the comedy, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (1988), the S & M melodrama, "Tie me up! Tie me down!" (1990) and the family romance, "High Heels" (1991). This study argues not only that Almodovar is a highly skilled manipulator of cinematic form, but also that his films raise important questions - of gender, nationality and sexuality - which demand a serious response from their audience. "Desire Unlimited" offers analyses derived from recent feminist, gay and postmodern theory.

"Finely observed, compelling."--"Publishers Weekly"

Paul Julian Smith is Professor of Spanish and Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Cambridge University. His previous books include "Vision Machines: Cinema, Literature and Sexuality in Spain and Cuba, 1983-1993" and "The Moderns: Time, Space and Subjectivity in Contemporary Spanish Culture."