Died Tuesday, December 17 at the age of 78, Spanish actress Marisa Paredes was and will forever remain one of the great heroines of Pedro Almodóvar’s cinematic landscape. A look back at the six roles that the director offered him.
Although Marisa Paredes’ acting career is not primarily limited to Pedro Almodóvar (she has also worked under the direction of Raoul Ruiz, Arturo Ripstein, Roberto Benigni and Manoel de Oliveira), she has nevertheless been strongly marked by his exceptional collaborations with the Spanish director.
While The Room Next Doorthe very last film by Pedro Almodóvar will be released on January 8, 2025, the death of Marisa Paredes, one of his favorite actresses, made us want to look back at the best roles he devoted to her. Paredes is in fact one of this handful of Spanish actresses who, sublimated by the warm colors of Almodóvar’s cinema, have become icons.
Into the darkness1983
Into the darkness marks the first of Marisa Paredes’ collaborations with Pedro Almodóvar. In the director’s third feature film, she plays Sister Estiércol, an eccentric nun alongside Carmen Maura, another great muse of the filmmaker. In this closed space, Yolanda, a junkie singer, takes refuge in a convent of nuns, trying to flee the police who are looking for her for the death of her lover. But this convent also contains its share of vices and trafficking.
Stiletto heels1992
After a gap of almost ten years following Into the darknessMarisa Paredes returns with great fanfare in the flamboyant Stiletto heels by Pedro Almodóvar. The director’s current muse is Victoria Abril, who plays the lead role of Rebeca Giner, a TV news presenter who married her mother’s ex-lover, Becky del Páramo, a famous singer with whom she is in a relationship conflicting. The mother in question is played by a sublime and moving Marisa Paredes in this role of egocentric diva. Below, a cult extract from Stiletto heelsperformed by Marisa Paredes.
The Flower of my secret1995
For the first time, Marisa Paredes plays the main role in The Flower of my secreta sentimental drama about an author of romantic novels, Leo Macías, who writes under the name Amanda Gris. As his relationship falls apart, his romances turn dark and good feelings give way to pain. The film earned Marisa Paredes a Goya nomination, as well as the Best Actress Award at Karlovy Vary in 1995.
All about my mother1999
All about my mother is often considered one of Almodóvar’s masterpieces. Winner of the Oscar for best foreign film in 2000, it magnificently features Marisa Paredes, in a role specially written for her by the director. Here, she is still a famous artist, a theater actress in this case, Huma Rojo, who crosses the path of Manuela (Cecilia Roth). Huma will support Manuela in the ordeal of mourning, amid other parallel intrigues on homosexuality, gender identity, and even AIDS.
Talk to her2002
Marisa Paredes only makes a brief appearance as a party guest in Talk to her. The plot of the film focuses on two men, Marco and Benigno, respectively played by Javier Cámara and Darío Grandinetti, who meet each other at the bedside of their lovers (a dancer and a bullfighter), both of whom are in a coma.
The Skin I Live In2011
In this film, which marks Marisa Paredes’ last appearance with Almodóvar, she plays Marilia, the servant of a great plastic surgeon, Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas). He has achieved the feat of creating synthetic skin, resistant to external aggression. However, his experiments are tested on a guinea pig patient named Vera, whom he holds captive. Marilia looks at all this with a bad eye.
