''Kika'' is a 1993

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

film written and directed by

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narra ...

and starring

Verónica Forqué Verónica Forqué Vázquez-Vigo (; 1 December 1955 – 13 December 2021) was a Spanish stage, film and television actress. She was a four-time Goya Award winner, the most award-winning actress alongside Carmen Maura. She had a knack for charact ...

as the title character. Forqué won the

Goya Award for Best Actress The Goya Award for Best Actress (Spanish: ''Premio Goya a la mejor interpretación femenina protagonista'') is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. Since its inception, the award has been given to 26 actresses. At the 1s ...

, the second female lead on an Almodóvar film to do so.

Plot

Kika, a naïve make-up artist, recalls how she met her lover Ramón. She had given her phone number to his stepfather, American writer Nicholas Pierce, and he had called her not for sex as she had hoped, but to make up the younger man's corpse. He was, however, merely catatonic and suddenly awoke. Ramón is a fashion photographer with voyeuristic tendencies who was traumatised by his mother's suicide after several attempts. He lets Nicholas, who has returned to Madrid, live above their flat and the two discuss whether to sell the family home outside of town, Casa Youkali, which they jointly own. Ramón proposes to Kika, who accepts but feels conflicted as she has been cheating on him with Nicholas. Nicholas is working on a novel about a lesbian serial killer, but he makes ends meet by freelancing discreetly for an outrageously exploitative television show which focuses on bizarre and macabre events. The show is devised and presented by Andrea Caracortada ("Andrea Scarface"), who wears over-the-top outfits and a persona to match. Andrea used to be a psychologist, and Ramón was once her patient, then her lover. He tells Nicholas that she scarred her own face when he left her and she is now stalking him. On her show, Andrea reports that Paul Bazzo (real name: Pablo Mendez), a dim-witted sex maniac and former pornographic actor jailed for rapes, has escaped while attending a religious procession. He turns up at Ramón and Kika's flat because their maid Juana is his long-suffering sister. Juana instructs him to tie her up, knock her unconscious and steal valuables, then hide at a cousin's place. Paul, however, finds Kika napping and rapes her at knife point. An unseen

voyeur Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". ...

peeping at Kika's room notifies the police and two incompetent inspectors eventually arrive, shoot up the door and with great difficulty interrupt the rape. Paul escapes and bumps into Andrea, kitted out in a futuristic reporter's outfit complete with helmet-mounted video camera. She asks for an interview, but he pushes her off and steals her motorcycle. She then enters the flat and harasses Kika. The police are puzzled at her presence, because although they often tip her off, they did not in this case. Andrea credits an unknown peeping tom for alerting her and broadcasts video footage of the rape on her show, causing Kika to break down. In the aftermath, Kika finds Ramón to be no help and she overhears him confess to Nicholas that it was he who called the police: he liked to peep on her from his photographic studio's window. She leaves him in silence, as does a guilt-ridden Juana who confesses her part in the rape. Ramón also tells Nicholas that he has held on to his mother's diaries but never found the strength to read them. He does so, however, after Nicholas has moved back to Casa Youkali, and discovers that the farewell letter to him that Nicholas had passed on was actually ripped from an old entry. Ramón confronts Nicholas and accuses him of murdering his mother. Meanwhile, it turns out that Andrea and Ramón both spied on the flat from separate addresses. While reviewing footage of the upper floor, Andrea realises that Nicholas appears to have murdered one of his several girlfriends, Susana, when she visited him. Connecting this to his latest book, she also goes to Casa Youkali armed with a pistol and finds a freshly dug grave in the garden. Nicholas barricades himself, but she breaks in aggressively and offers to interview him and let him run away before the broadcast. They fight and shoot each other. Kika also appears and Nicholas confesses with his dying breath that his novel about a lesbian serial killer is actually a disguised autobiography, as Andrea had figured out. Kika also finds the bodies of Andrea, Susana and Ramón, but she manages to resurrect the latter a second time with electric shocks. Ramón had gone into shock after finding Susana's body in the bathroom. While Ramón is taken to hospital, Kika picks up a stranded driver and takes an instant interest in him, stating that she might need a new direction.

Cast

as Kika *

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...

as Nicholas Pierce *

Victoria Abril Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film ''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by ...

as Andrea Caracortada * Álex Casanovas as Ramón *

Rossy de Palma Rosa Elena García Echave (born 16 September 1964), known professionally as Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress and model. She is well known for her roles in films by Pedro Almodóvar such as ''Law of Desire'', ''Women on the Verge of a Nervou ...

as Juana * Santiago Lajusticia as Pablo Mendez/Paul Bazzo * Anabel Alonso as Amparo *

Bibiana Fernández Bibiana Manuela Fernández Chica (born 13 February 1954), better known as Bibiana Fernández and also known as Bibi Andersen, is a Spanish actress, singer, TV presenter and model. Biography Fernández Chica was born in Tangier and spent ...

as Susana *

Jesús Bonilla Jesús Bonilla (born 1 September 1955) is a Spanish actor. He has appeared in more than sixty films since 1978. Selected filmography References External links * 1955 births Living people Spanish male film actors 20th-century Spanis ...

as a policeman *

Karra Elejalde Carlos Elejalde Garay (born 10 October 1960) better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker. Biography Carlos Elejalde Garay was born on 10 October 1960 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. He developed his early acting career on i ...

as a policeman *

Manuel Bandera Manuel Bandera (born 12 December 1960) is a Spanish actor and dancer. He became popular for his performance in the 1989 film '' The Things of Love''. Biography Born on 12 December in 1960 in Málaga, Bandera started his career performing as d ...

as Chico Carretera *

Charo López María del Rosario López Piñuelas (born 28 October 1943) better known as Charo López, is a Spanish actress. Filmography *Plan Jack cero tres (1967) *El hueso (1967) *La vida sigue igual (1969) *Ditirambo (1969) * El extraño caso del docto ...

as Rafaela *

Francisca Caballero The francisca (or francesca) is a throwing axe used as a weapon during the Early Middle Ages by the Franks, among whom it was a characteristic national weapon at the time of the Merovingians from about 500 to 750 and is known to have been used d ...

as Doña Paquita *

Mónica Bardem Mónica María Encinas Bardem (born May 4, 1964) is a Spanish film actress, daughter of actress Pilar Bardem and sister of actors Carlos and Javier Bardem. Some of her films are ''Kika'' (1993), '' Not Love, Just Frenzy, Más que amor, frenes� ...

as Paca *

Joaquín Climent Joaquín Climent Asensi (born 7 September 1958) is a Spanish actor. He is primarily recognised as an established supporting actor in both film and television works. He has also performed in stage plays. He became popular for his role as Pascual in ...

as a murderer *

Blanca Li Blanca Li, originally Blanca María Gutiérrez Ortiz (born January 12, 1964) is a Spanish choreographer, film director, dancer, and actress. She has created choreographies for the Paris Opera Ballet, The Berlin Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, ...

as a victim

Music

Perez Prado's "Concierto para Bongó" serves as background music for some scenes, including the Pica'os self-flagellation scenes, a car chase and Kika's rape scene (when replayed in television by Andrea).

Tite Curet Alonso Catalino "Tite" Curet Alonso (February 26, 1926 – August 5, 2003) was a Puerto Rican composer of over 2,000 salsa songs. Early years Curet Alonso (birth name: Catalino Curet Alonso) was born in Guayama, a town located in the southern region ...

's song "Teatro", as sung by

La Lupe Lupe Victoria Yolí Raymond (23 December 1936 – 29 February 1992), better known as La Lupe, was a Cuban singer of boleros, guarachas and Latin soul, known for her energetic, sometimes controversial performances. Following the release of he ...

, is the film's musical theme.

Themes

The film central themes are depravity and hope, and it has a corrosive humor. The film comments on the intrusive nature of

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

which was a relatively new phenomenon at the time.

Reception

Response to the film was mixed; some called it Almodóvar's most intense and surprising work to date. The film has a score of 59% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

from 17 reviews. The ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was f ...

'' listed it as one of the 10 worst films of 1994.

References

External links

* * * * * Janet Maslin
Kika (1993) – Another Sly, Dizzy Romp With Pedro Almodovar
''The New York Times'', 6 May 1994 * Kevin Thomas
Almodovar's 'Kika': Freewheeling Parable
''LA Times'', 6 May 1994 {{Pedro Almodóvar 1993 films 1993 comedy-drama films 1990s black comedy films 1990s sex comedy films 1990s Spanish-language films Ciby 2000 films El Deseo films Films about rape Films about siblings Films directed by Pedro Almodóvar Films produced by Agustín Almodóvar Films set in Madrid Films shot in Madrid French black comedy films French comedy-drama films French sex comedy films Incest in film Spanish black comedy films Spanish comedy-drama films Spanish sex comedy films Spanish-language French films 1990s French films 1990s Spanish films