Dark Habits

Pedro Almodóvar’s anti-clerical, anti-establishmentarian proclivities which are sometimes misguidedly compared to those of fellow Spaniard, Luis Buñuel, are given full rein in this story of drug-addled and drug-dealing nuns who, undere the guidance of a lesbian Mother Superior run kind of half-way house for drug addicts, prostitutes and murderesses. One such is Yolanda (Cristina Sánchez Pascual) a cabaret singer who comes to the convent after her boyfriend ODs on heroin that she supplied. Yolanda however is the sanest one there as years of eccentric behaviour has left the convent cash-strapped and about to close down,

If the scenario is typical Almodóvar in its sub-cultural campness and absurdly tacky goings-on unfortunately it amounts to little more than one joke stretched for the length of a feature film and the director does nothing of note with his own script which having some snappy lines of dialogue is arguably the best ingredient here.

Many of the director’s regular players appear including as Sister Rat Of The Sewers, the always wonderful Chus Lampreave, along with Marisa Paredes, and Carmen Maura but this film is a transitional work in Almodóvar's career, standing between the cataloguing of deviant behaviour that characterizes his earlier works and the more coherent drama that he would achieve with Women On The Edge Of A Nervous Breakdown (1988).

 

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