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For the single released by Tilly and the Wall, see Bad Education (song).

Bad Education
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pedro Almodóvar
Produced by	Pedro Almodóvar
Written by	Pedro Almodóvar
Starring	Gael Garcia Bernal Fele Martinez
Music by	Alberto Iglesias
Cinematography	Jose Luis Alcaine
Editing by	José Salcedo
Distributed by	USA Sony Pictures Classics Mexico 20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	USA September 5, 2004 Spain March 19, 2004
Running time	106 min.
Country
Language	Spanish
Budget	$5 million
Gross revenue	USA $5,211,842 Spain €6,118,873
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Bad Education (Spanish: La mala educación) is a 2004 film by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar about two reunited childhood friends (and lovers) in the vein of an Alfred Hitchcock murder mystery. Sexual abuse by Catholic priests, transsexuality, drug abuse, and a metafiction are also important themes and devices in the plot. It is rated 18 in Spain, 15 in the UK by the BBFC and NC-17 in the US by the MPAA.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reaction 4 Alternate versions 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 External links

Enrique (Fele Martínez), a successful film director, is visited by a stranger (Gael García Bernal) in his office, an actor looking for work who claims to be Enrique's boarding school friend and first love interest Ignacio. "Ignacio" has brought a short story with him that is about their time at the Catholic school together and the physical and sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Father Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). It also includes a fictionalized account of their (Enrique's and Ignacio's) reunion after all those years.

Enrique wants to adapt Ignacio's story into a film, but "Ignacio's" condition is that he play the part of Zahara, the transsexual lead. Enrique remains skeptical, for he feels that the Ignacio whom he loved and the Ignacio of today are totally different people. He drives to Galicia to Ignacio's mother and learns that the real Ignacio has been dead for four years and that the man who came to his office is really Ignacio's younger brother, Juan.

Enrique's interest is piqued and he decides to do the movie with Juan in the role of Ignacio to find out what drives Juan. Enrique and "Ignacio" start a relationship and Enrique revises the script so that it ends with Father Manolo, whom Ignacio was trying to blackmail over the abuse to get money for sex reassignment surgery, having Ignacio murdered. When the scene is shot, "Ignacio" breaks out in tears unexpectedly.

The movie set is visited by Manuel Berenguer (Lluís Homar), who has read in the newspaper about the film and is none other than the real Father Manolo who has resigned from Church duty. Manuel confesses to Enrique that the new ending of the film is not far from the truth: the real Ignacio blackmailed Manuel, who somehow managed to scratch together the money but also took an interest in Ignacio's younger brother Juan. Juan and Manuel started a relationship and after a while realized they both wanted to see Ignacio dead. This was facilitated by the fact that Ignacio was a heroin addict. Juan scored some very pure heroin, so that his brother would die by overdose after shooting up.

Enrique is understandably shocked and not at all interested in Juan's weak vindications for what he did to his brother. Finally, before he leaves, Juan gives Enrique a piece of paper: a letter to Enrique that Ignacio was in the middle of typing when he died.

From the style of the opening credits to the score that is heavily reminiscent of the works of Bernard Herrmann, this movie is a homage to classic Hitchcock thrillers such as Vertigo, in which a femme fatale from the protagonist's past surfaces again but has a double identity and hides a dark secret.

• Gael García Bernal as Ángel/Juan/Zahara
• Fele Martínez as Enrique Goded
• Daniel Giménez Cacho as Father Manolo
• Lluís Homar as Sr. Manuel Berenguer
• Javier Cámara as Paca/Paquito
• Petra Martínez as Mother
• Nacho Pérez as Young Ignacio
• Raúl García Forneiro as Young Enrique
• Francisco Boira as Ignacio
• Juan Fernández as Martín
• Alberto Ferreiro as Enrique Serrano
• Roberto Hoyas as Camarero
• Francisco Maestre as Padre José
• Leonor Watling as Mónica

This film stands out among Almodóvar's work in that it features a nearly all-male cast (among Almodóvar's trademarks are stories about women) and is among his most serious works. The NC-17 rating didn't help as it caused the film to have a very limited release in the US and be overshadowed by another acclaimed film from Spain, The Sea Inside, which won both the Goya and the Foreign Film Oscar of that year. Some even saw Almodóvar's next film, Volver, a more traditional work, as an attempt to cleanse himself from the "too controversial" Bad Education. However, many also praised the film, with Roger Ebert giving it three and a half stars. The film has also developed a following in gay communities.

The theatrical release of the film was NC-17.The DVD version of this film was released in an R-Rated version which trims or cuts some scenes in the NC-17 version. There is an NC-17 version available though.

• Mexican born actor Gael García Bernal had to be able to do a convincing Spanish accent before Pedro Almodóvar would allow him to get his role(s) in the movie.
• Pedro Almodóvar dedicated the opening night performance at the Cannes Film Festival to those who had been killed in the al'Qaeda terrorist train bombings in Madrid the previous month.
• Pedro Almodóvar worked on the story structure for over 10 years.
• The film opened the 57th Cannes Film Festival in 2004. It was the first Spanish film to ever get that honor.
• Originally rated NC-17 in the States. An oral sex scene was blurred to obtain an R rating.
• The ending of the film was only resolved in the editing suite.
• At the beginning of the movie, there's a poster of a fictitious film called "La abuela fantasma" on the wall in Enrique's studio (it's clearly visible when Ignacio leaves after giving his screenplay to Enrique). "La abuela fantasma" was the original title of another Almodovar film, Volver.

• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in films
• Roman Catholic Church sex abuse cases
• Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
• Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
• Sex Crimes and the Vatican (Panorama Documentary Episode)

• Official site
• Bad Education (La mala educacion) at the Internet Movie Database
• Bad Education (La mala educacion) at All Movie Guide

v • d • e Films directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) • Labyrinth of Passion (1982) • Dark Habits (1983) • What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984) • Matador (1986) • Law of Desire (1987) • Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) • Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) • High Heels (1991) • Kika (1993) • The Flower of My Secret (1995) • Live Flesh (1997) • All About My Mother (1999) • Talk to Her (2002) • Bad Education (2004) • Volver (2006)

v • d • e Cinema of Spain

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