Almodóvar's fourth film What Have I Done to Deserve This? entails melodramatic themes bordering on the aesthetic popularized by the Hollywood German director Douglas Sirk. Though influenced by Sirk’s Hollywood melodramas, Almodóvar leans towards Italian neorealism as an homage to the genre. He incorporates sub-plots around domesticity, poverty, and desperation to make a commentary on contemporary Spanish society.
Films that fall under Italian neorealism explore the moral and economic conditions of the lower working class following the Second World War. Survival is typically the primary objective as the characters seek to navigate the pressures of everyday life including injustices and oppression. As such Almodóvar gives the film a sense of realism both in its themes and appearance capturing the Italian psyche following the fascist past. The director focuses on the motif and imagery of money to convey the major conflict while exploring the Neorealist ideologies.
As a renowned “women’s director” Almodóvar incorporates a feminist approach by having a strong female protagonist trampled by the injustices of a patriarchal and capitalist system. Through her, he delves into the female frustration as the protagonist is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Towards the climax of the film the director borrows from Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter where the protagonist in the short story uses a leg of mutton as the murder weapon. The element of black comedy in the narrative works seamlessly in the film as Gloria strikes and kills the husband with a leg of ham. Almodóvar manages to balance the moral seriousness with slight humor while also exploring sexual perversion and transgressions.
