Salomé (1978) User Reviews

For fans of the subject/character only

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 13 April 2018]

"Salomé" is a Spanish 10-minute movie, 12 with credits, that was written and directed by Spanish Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar before his 30th birthday and still it is none of his very earliest works. I must admit that I know none of the actors in here, but this is maybe my fault, so lets talk a bit more about Pedro. His style here is somewhat visible already in terms of sets and colors. The subject of course did not offer too much room for interpretation as the story of Salomße is one that was done many times already over the decades by all kinds of filmmakers. There's probably worse ones out there than this one here, but it is what it is and I personally was not too impressed, maybe also because of the religious backgroound, at least not impressed enough to give this one a thumbs-up and a positive recommendation. So yeah, I personally believe that unless you are a huge Almodóvar fan (and have seen his many superior works already) or interested in the character of Salomé, that you want to skip this one and even if the former is true, maybe a rewatch would be a better choice. Then again, you cannot do too much wrong at this runtime. Still my suggestion is overall to watch something else instead. It's tough to put a fainger on what is wrong here and maybe it is all subkective too to be honest.

Only for fans

[adecio · 6/10 · 31 October 2019]

It is a very simple short movie directed by Pedro Almodóvar in his early career. Nothing special, but I like the fact that he had marked his way to tell story. It's highly recommended for very Aldomóvar's admirers.

Oscar Wilde-Pedro Almodóvar

[lso-soares · 5/10 · 3 March 2022]

Before shooting his first feature film, Pedro Almodóvar made 13 short films. I decided to look for them to watch and only found Salomé, precisely the last of them before the first features.

Salomé is based on a play by Oscar Wilde and deals with the biblical figure who asks for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter for having danced the dance of the seven veils.

However, in the short, Almodóvar mixes the biblical characters of the Old Testament, placing Abraham (Fernando Hilbeck) as the father of Isaac (Agustín Almodóvar). Both are on a hill, when Abraham meets Salomé (Isabel Mestres), being mesmerized by her beauty. He asks her to dance and she makes the condition that if she does, Abraham will have to fulfill her wish. She dances and asks for Isaac's sacrifice. Abraham, fulfilling his promise, prepares for the sacrifice, when a bonfire is lit from nowhere and from it comes the voice of God (voice of Juan Lombardero), with Salomé having disappeared. It was a test of honesty towards Abraham. Isaac is spared death. Salome, the bonfire and God are the same thing. Almodóvar always provoking: the divine trinity in a different way and the female figure as the maximum deity.

Although the script is very interesting, the execution is very rudimentary. There was no resource, for sure. It's not remotely reminiscent of Almodóvar from iconic films like All About My Mother (my favorite), or Talk to Her. But the provocative elements and the empowered female figure are already presents.

Available, in bad copy, on YouTube.

It May Not Be Good but at Least It's Dull

[Hitchcoc · 3/10 · 17 May 2019]

This is a stultifying ten minutes. If you take away the dance scene, there is five minutes of nothing happening. She is quite pretty but other than a few interesting shots, it really doesn't engage. Don't bother with this. The film also seems kind of cheap.