1. BAD EDUCATION
Directed by Pedro Almodovar
(2004)

2. Synopsis:
In 1980s Madrid two young men, filmmaker Enrique
and aspiring actor Ignacio open up dark secrets as
they revisit their early years together at a Catholic
church.
As they try to uncover the truth about themselves,
each other and the diverse characters in their story,
they realise that things and people are not as they
first seem.

3. ERROR ON THE DVD COVER
• It mentions how Ignacio is the film maker
and Enrique is the actor but this is
incorrect.
• Ignacio is the aspiring actor (left picture).
• Enrique is the film maker (right picture).

4. Recurring concepts in Almodovar’s
films:
• Incorporates flashbacks
• Different perspectives: Male protagonists’ thoughts
and feelings.
• Sensitive topic/subject matter
• Feelings towards the characters: e.g. the priest in Bad
Education and Benigno in Talk to her.
• A film within a film: see the film that Benigno watches
(also his thoughts included) and in Bad Education,
Enrique and Ignacio recreate their past through the
use of film.
• Alberto Iglesias is the producer of the music.
• Mise-en-scene: artistic and colourful.
• A letter wraps up the plot

5. ... Continued concepts:
• The fluidity of gender: masculinity and femininity
constructed rather than natural. Characters can
choose different gender identities.
• Characters trapped by traditional expectations of
gender are shown to be weak and often destroyed
by their need to conform.
• The ambiguity of sexual identity: characters in
Almodovar’s films aren’t defined by a discrete
sexual identity: they may be gay or straight at
different times.

6. Themes in Bad Education and Talk to
her:
• Obsession: The priest is affectionate towards
Ignacio (Juan) in BE and Benigno believes that
Alicia can talk back to him despite being in a coma.
Also Benigno is sexually obsessed.
• Sex/sexuality
• Moral questioning: The Priest knows what he is
doing is wrong but because he is obsessed with
Ignacio, it takes over his morality.
• Lack of female communication but a lot to do with
female perspectives.

7. Film Form in Bad Education:
• Non-linear structure: going from the past to the present
(flashbacks).
• Shows character’s emotion through camera angles
• Very little hand held camera
• Mostly high key lighting
• Low key lighting in bad situations – priest chasing the
boys
• Fading transition to show time has passed
• Reality and fiction are blurred
• Expositional dialogue: Enrique talks about the crocodile
story about a woman getting ripped apart and it could
reflect his feelings towards the film.

8. Film Form in Bad Education:
• Unreliable narrator: Ignacio/Juan. Audience have been lead
to believe that Juan is Ignacio when actually he has taken his
brother’s name.
• Enigmatic (convoluted): the plot is overly complicated, too
much happening and sometimes hard to follow. Some scenes
were easier to understand than others but hard to continue
watching the next scene as you are focusing on what has just
happened.
• Closed ending: relationship between Enrique and Ignacio
(Juan). Action/reaction shot suggesting they won’t see each
other again.
• The text appearing on the screen concludes the last point: It
lets the audience know what the characters have done
without each other.

9. General key points in Bad education:
• The representation of the church: it is shown in a
negative light which is controversial because Spain
is a largely, Catholic country and it shows the bad
side of religion.
• Almodovar may have intentionally wanted to make
the narrative complicating to follow, can be a
disorientating experience as the director doesn’t
really clarify it for us.