The Human Voice (Pedro Almodóvar, 2020) (Patreon)

As it happens, I was tasked with writing the catalogue blurb for the Viennale for this one. Here's what I came up with:

"Working primarily in English for the first time, Pedro Almodóvar adapts Jean Cocteau’s one-act play about a woman on one end of a telephone call, gradually falling apart as her lover ends a long-term affair. This highly precise featurette is a showcase for a bracing, multifaceted performance by Tilda Swinton, acting for the man on the line while showing us a very different emotional reality. Almodóvar combines his customarily eye-popping mise en scène with the frank theatricality of a soundstage, yielding a reality as precarious as that of the protagonist."

(I was limited to 500 characters.) What I didn't really get to address is the way Swinton and Almodóvar mesh so nicely, each bringing their own unique brand of artifice to the table. Swinton has evolved into what I guess you'd call a mainstream actress, but her roots are in Brechtianism, and there's always a hint of distance in her work. That's perfect here, since as I tried to suggest above, we are watching a dual performance. She's attempting to perform normalcy for "Juan" (the man on the phone) while also making it evident to us that she is dying inside.

Almodóvar, for his part, combines his primary colors and lacquered interiors with a backstage, the dull, dark scaffolding of theatrical flats. So at times, Swinton leaves "Planet Pedro" as retreats into a space much more like Lars von Trier's Dogville. Appropriate, since her co-star, a black and white Spaniel, is the consistent anchor to an absolute layer of reality. He just walks around the set, periodically trying to get love from Tilda, who sometimes capitulates, sometimes not, as per the demands of the script. The dog has no idea what "the human voice" is saying, but takes comfort in it nonetheless.

One other thing: this is 31 minutes long, but Sony Pictures Classics has picked it up and plans a theatrical release. (Assuming Covid is over, of course.) When's the last time anyone theatrically released a short film? Pedro's got some mad clout.