OK, I admit paying $200 for a book seems a little crazy. It’s not as crazy as buying a $35,000 alligator skin backpack from the Olsen twins… but still. But since this is a book about and sort of by the inimitable Spanish filmmaker (being the first book Almodóvar has ever written about all his films), the price tag feels kinda right. Add to that the fact that this photography book is coming from TASCHEN, and that it comes with an actual strip of film from his movie Volver (plucked straight from his private vault), and you’ve kind of got yourself a deal. If you don’t know TASCHEN, their books are always gorgeous and exquisitely made — and pricey. Their book GOAT, about Muhammad Ali, went for $15,000. Yep. Those zeroes ain’t a mistake.
The Pedro Almodovar Archives, edited by Paul Duncan and Barbara Piero, is an in-depth hardcover 400 page look at Almodovar’s life and art. He gave TASCHEN complete access to his archive, resulting in over 600 images covering all of his films, including The Skin I Live In, his latest. Almodovar introduced talent like Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and Victoria Abril to the world, so you know those photos are gonna be fun. There are never before seen images that the filmmaker snapped on the sets of his vibrant and inimitable films (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Volver, Talk To Her), images from his work and life, and Almodovar even wrote the captions for the photos. He also asked prominent Spanish writers to pen introductions to each of his films.
Like Hitchcock, Kubrick and Ingmar Bergman, who also got the TASCHEN treatment, Almodovar’s style and the colorful, totally unique world he’s created with each film deserves a well-crafted book like this. The regular edition is limited to 12,000 copies, while an Art Edition of 500 copies numbered and signed by Almodóvar is also available. The Art Edition include a digital C-print “Penélope, as Marilyn” (above, 2008), photographed and signed by Almodóvar himself. Some things — and some artists — are worth the price of admission.
Another gallery of exclusive images from “The Pedro Almodovar Archives” after the Jump…
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