Cocteau’s wife in Almodóvar: The Human Voice

Abstract

With unmistakable references to his personal cinematographic poetics, Pedro Almodóvar offers us the medium-length film The Human Voice (2020) as a rereading and appropriation of the homonymous play La Voix humaine, by Jean Cocteau. It is interesting to observe the presence of typically Almodovarian signs and inquire about the resignification that they give to the original work, especially to the leading female character. Without a doubt, Cocteau´s wife and Almodóvar´s are not the same despite the fact that the Spanish filmmaker recovers the French playwright´s monologue and the theme of the piece. A proof of this is the open ending, almost subversive and humorous, in which the woman not only survives but also decides to take the reins of her new life with emphasis.