Dans les ténèbres

What else do you need to know? Honestly, this isn't Almodovar's best work. In fact, it's pretty sloppy story-wise. But I enjoyed the heck out of it. Cristina Sanchez Pascual plays a heroin-addicted singer who hides out in a convent after her boyfriend overdoses. The nuns there are, shall we say, a little quirky in that they are mostly on drugs (heroin, cocaine, acid - but not pot; at one point a nun says "you know I don't do soft drugs"). Also, one's a lesbian and another writes lurid romance novels and together they have raised a pet tiger. They all have names like Sister Snake and Sister Rat, because the humiliation is sacred. There's really no compelling reason the nuns are on drugs. It's just kind of a shocking, humorous detail. I think Bunuel would have loved it, though the film itself isn't particularly blasphemous. It doesn't view the nuns or Catholicism cynically. It just exists in its own, weird Almodovar universe. The plot is not very strong, so the whole thing just kind of fizzles, but it's entertaining. Carmen Maura plays one of the nuns, but she's not an extremely important character. On the Region 1 DVD, though, she graces the cover.

"Dark Habits" from 1983 was Pedro Almodovar's first film made with a decent producer, film company, and budget.

There are signs of his later brilliance in films like "Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" and "All About My Mother," but even for the quirky Almodovar, this is one strange film.

"Sister Act" is vaguely reminiscent of this movie, only in the fact that "Dark Habits" concerns Yolanda, a nightclub performer (Cristina Sánchez Pascual) whose boyfriend (Will More) overdoses while she's in his apartment.

Yolanda panics, afraid she will be accused of killing him by the police, so, wearing her red sequined gown, she hides out in a Madrid convent.

This is unlike any convent depicted before or since. Some of the nuns, like Yolanda herself, are drug addicts, doing heroin and coke. One nun has a pet tiger. Another writes sexy novels under a pseudonym. Another nun designs fashions and is in love with the local priest.

The Mother Superior is a lesbian and falls in love with Yolanda. The nuns all have strange names, depicting that man is the lowest form of animal: Sister Snake, Sister Rat, etc.

The big problem at the convent at the moment is that the Marquesa (Mary Carillo), now that her generous husband is dead, has decided to withdraw patronage from the convent. One of the nuns gets information about the Marquesa's daughter and decides to blackmail her with it.

"Dark Habits," I believe, suggests the Movida Madrilenia, a hedonistic countercultural movement that took place in Madrid after the death of Franco.

It was meant to represent a new Spanish identity, an identity characterized by freedom of expression, use of recreational drugs, and even a new dialect.

It was a hedonistic culture that more or less destroyed itself by the overuse of heroin. At the end of the era, Madrid was left with drug addicts, dead junkies, people leaving Madrid for their original hometowns, and for others, rehabilitation and a useful life.

The convent serves as a microcosm of this movement. Here one sees art, drugs, music, and homosexuality.

A fascinating if sometimes uncomfortable film, and certainly not representative of the later Almodovar, who himself has distanced himself from this offbeat, dark film.

Finally saw this film today. I laughed out loud many times. It's just so wonderfully outrageous. The nuns are played by actresses that went on to play leads in Almodovar's later films: Women on the Verge, All About My Mother, etc. The actress who plays Sister Rat figures prominently, which made me very happy, as she has had mostly very minor roles in his subsequent films. She first came to my attention in Talk To Her. She plays the concierge, and asks the reporter why her tenant is in jail. The reporter says he's innocent. She replies, I know, but innocent of what? She has right-on deadpan delivery that just knocks you out, and it's on full display in Dark Habits.

The film is less neatly constructed than Almodovar's later works, and one might say the ending is somewhat messy. Still, it's interesting to compare it to his incredibly polished work of the last ten years. While the uninitiated (to Almodovar) may find parts of it a little shocking, it's not nearly as raw as it would be if it were made today--certainly the lesbianism is tame by today's standard.

Other reviewers are right that a lot of the English subtitles miss the ironic tone in the script. But don't let that stop you . . . It's Almodovar! Even second tier Almodovar with inadequate subtitling is better than 99 percent of everything else!

It's not very often that you can go back this far in a director's career and find a film this good.

It's sure as hell not sentimental; it's a black comedy - you've got parody, satire and a dark-humour rolled into one.

There already signs of Almodóvar's skill at film-making, already touches of Almodóvar's trademark whit and humour. It starts out with a girl at a crossroads in her life: on the one hand, a drug fuelled crazy future… the other, the stability of a convent. Or is that the other way round? For those familiar with Almodóvar's films, there are some of the reoccurring themes you'd expect to find, amongst others: prostitution, nuns, drugs, and dealers. More specifically, Dark Habits seems to deal with (to me anyway) a novelist (Almodóvar's film's often touch on creativity/ those involved), the idea of what is good, and along a similar vain, our abilities to turn a new leaf.

Obviously being in subtitles is going to exclude this for some, but others are whole-heartedly recommended; even if it isn't the best Almodóvar film, I've found it the most enjoyable so far. (I haven't heard a quote better than "I'm Sister Rat of the Sewers. I was keen to meet you" recently.)

Oh, and look out for the tiger ;-)

The very fact that you are going to watch nuns snorting cocaine, and even craving for it, should give you an idea of how far Almodovar went to give an alternative view of what a "convent" is in this movie. I watched it in the original language (Spanish)and found it brilliant and extremely entertaining, a very good concentrate of the "early" Almodovar, with His portrayal of a depraved 80's era in Madrid, and His usual intermingling of stories... Also, the viewer is seldom allowed to know what to expect next, and the whole atmosphere in the movie is just so unconventional... Definitely worth watching, hopefully it doesn't lose too much in English..