Kika
Encyclopedia
Kika is a 1993 Spanish language
Pedro Almodóvar
film starring Verónica Forqué
as the title character.
), a young, bubbly aspiring actress turned cosmetologist, is called to the cottage of Nicholas Pierce (Peter Coyote
), an American freelance writer who has moved to Spain to write about game hunting, to make-up the corpse of his stepson, Ramón (Alex Casanovas), before notifying the authorities. The circumstances of Ramón's "death" are rather suspicious, but Kika does not raise an issue of them and performs her work on Ramón. It turns out that he is not dead, and is actually catatonic
. He is revived by Kika's attentions; soon after Ramón tells her the story of his life: he is a lingerie
photographer who hasn't coped with the suspicious death of his mother, for which he blames Nicholas (since he was the last person to see her alive, and since he has since read his mother's diary, in which Nicholas is portrayed as abusive). Feeling empathic to Ramón, and in part turned on by the whole experience, she decides to move in with him.
While living with Ramón, Kika has a secret affair with Nicholas. She feels sorry for Ramón, but is turned off by his constant melancholy moods. To complicate things, he has to evade the constant intrusive gaze of tabloid-TV star -and Ramon's former psychologist- Andrea Caracortada ("Andrea Scarface", played by Victoria Abril
), who is also a former lover of Nicolás', and who stalks him since they broke up. Andrea, who wears costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier on and off the air, has become obsessed with obtaining morbid topics for her tabloid TV show (one of them shows live footage of a woman being killed at a cemetery at gunpoint, an incident taken almost verbatim from a similar incident that occurred near Miami in mid 1980s, where the killing of a Cuba
n-born woman by her estranged husband was filmed by a television crew). She assumes that hanging around Ramón and Nicholas will eventually lead to some juicy news item.
Kika and Ramón's part-time maid
(Rossy de Palma
) is the sister of Paul Basso (a pun on polvazo, which means "great fuck" or "big ejaculation
" in Spanish slang), a former porn actor with a low IQ
who has just escaped from jail. Paul received a good conduct leave, and attended the Good Friday
procession at San Vicente de la Sonsierra
, a small town in Spain renowned for having penitents, commonly called "Los Pica'os" ("The Cut 'Uns"), self-flagellate
during the event. Disguised himself as a penitent (complete with white, hooded robes, typical of some religious ceremonies in Spain
), Paul escapes custody and takes shelter at his sister's workplace. Kika happens to be sound asleep in her bedroom. After asking his sister for money and manhandling her breasts (Juana used to have sex with Paul in order to help him steam-off and prevent him from raping other women and getting into trouble, later she has become a lesbian
) he finds Kika lying in bed while wearing no panties. He then rapes her while she's asleep. She wakes up, and notices Paul on top of her. She wants him to leave.
An anonymous tip to two clumsy police officers leads them to investigate the rape while it is still taking place. By the time they reach the place, Paul is being pulled off Kika by two people while she's still holding on to him. He unlocks himself from her, goes to the roof of the building, and masturbates
to relieve himself while Andrea is coincidentally entering the building, various stories below. A drop of semen falls on her face.
Kika, who is humiliated by the experience, relives her humiliation once more when Andrea gets a hold of a videotape featuring her rape by Paul and shows it on her television show, and plans to leave the city for good.
(this is just the first half of the movie)
'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
's song "Teatro", as sung by La Lupe
, is the film's musical theme.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
film starring Verónica Forqué
Veronica Forqué
Verónica Forqué is a Spanish actress of stage, film and television who comes from an artistic and theatrical family. Her mother is Carmen Vázquez Vigo and her father is the director José María Forqué. Her brother is director Álvaro Forqué...
as the title character.
Plot
Kika (Veronica ForquéVeronica Forqué
Verónica Forqué is a Spanish actress of stage, film and television who comes from an artistic and theatrical family. Her mother is Carmen Vázquez Vigo and her father is the director José María Forqué. Her brother is director Álvaro Forqué...
), a young, bubbly aspiring actress turned cosmetologist, is called to the cottage of Nicholas Pierce (Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
), an American freelance writer who has moved to Spain to write about game hunting, to make-up the corpse of his stepson, Ramón (Alex Casanovas), before notifying the authorities. The circumstances of Ramón's "death" are rather suspicious, but Kika does not raise an issue of them and performs her work on Ramón. It turns out that he is not dead, and is actually catatonic
Catatonia
Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
. He is revived by Kika's attentions; soon after Ramón tells her the story of his life: he is a lingerie
Lingerie
Lingerie are fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments.Lingerie usually incorporates one or more flexible, stretchy materials like Lycra, nylon , polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric which are not typically used in more functional, basic cotton undergarments.The term in the French...
photographer who hasn't coped with the suspicious death of his mother, for which he blames Nicholas (since he was the last person to see her alive, and since he has since read his mother's diary, in which Nicholas is portrayed as abusive). Feeling empathic to Ramón, and in part turned on by the whole experience, she decides to move in with him.
While living with Ramón, Kika has a secret affair with Nicholas. She feels sorry for Ramón, but is turned off by his constant melancholy moods. To complicate things, he has to evade the constant intrusive gaze of tabloid-TV star -and Ramon's former psychologist- Andrea Caracortada ("Andrea Scarface", played by Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril
Victoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
), who is also a former lover of Nicolás', and who stalks him since they broke up. Andrea, who wears costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier on and off the air, has become obsessed with obtaining morbid topics for her tabloid TV show (one of them shows live footage of a woman being killed at a cemetery at gunpoint, an incident taken almost verbatim from a similar incident that occurred near Miami in mid 1980s, where the killing of a Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n-born woman by her estranged husband was filmed by a television crew). She assumes that hanging around Ramón and Nicholas will eventually lead to some juicy news item.
Kika and Ramón's part-time maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
(Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress. Described by many as a Picasso come-to-life, Rossy de Palma broke the rules of beauty in 1988 when she starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and became a model and muse for designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and...
) is the sister of Paul Basso (a pun on polvazo, which means "great fuck" or "big ejaculation
Ejaculation
Ejaculation is the ejecting of semen from the male reproductory tract, and is usually accompanied by orgasm. It is usually the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential component of natural conception. In rare cases ejaculation occurs because of prostatic disease...
" in Spanish slang), a former porn actor with a low IQ
Intelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
who has just escaped from jail. Paul received a good conduct leave, and attended the Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
procession at San Vicente de la Sonsierra
San Vicente de la Sonsierra
San Vicente de la Sonsierra is a village in the province and autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain.-References:...
, a small town in Spain renowned for having penitents, commonly called "Los Pica'os" ("The Cut 'Uns"), self-flagellate
Flagellation
Flagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails and the sjambok...
during the event. Disguised himself as a penitent (complete with white, hooded robes, typical of some religious ceremonies in Spain
Holy Week in Seville
Holy Week in Seville is one of the most important traditional events of the city. It is celebrated in the week leading up to Easter , and is one of the better known religious events within Spain...
), Paul escapes custody and takes shelter at his sister's workplace. Kika happens to be sound asleep in her bedroom. After asking his sister for money and manhandling her breasts (Juana used to have sex with Paul in order to help him steam-off and prevent him from raping other women and getting into trouble, later she has become a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
) he finds Kika lying in bed while wearing no panties. He then rapes her while she's asleep. She wakes up, and notices Paul on top of her. She wants him to leave.
An anonymous tip to two clumsy police officers leads them to investigate the rape while it is still taking place. By the time they reach the place, Paul is being pulled off Kika by two people while she's still holding on to him. He unlocks himself from her, goes to the roof of the building, and masturbates
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
to relieve himself while Andrea is coincidentally entering the building, various stories below. A drop of semen falls on her face.
Kika, who is humiliated by the experience, relives her humiliation once more when Andrea gets a hold of a videotape featuring her rape by Paul and shows it on her television show, and plans to leave the city for good.
(this is just the first half of the movie)
Music used
Perez PradoPerez Prado
Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...
'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
Tite Curet Alonso
Tite Curet Alonso was a renowned composer of over 2,000 salsa songs.- Early years :Born Catalino Curet Alonso in the southern town of Guayama in Puerto Rico. Alonso's mother was a seamtress and his father a Spanish teacher and musician in the band of Simon Madera...
's song "Teatro", as sung by La Lupe
La Lupe
La Lupe , was a Cuban-American singer of several musical genres: boleros, guarachas and Latin soul in particular...
, is the film's musical theme.
External links
- Kika, Pedro Almodovar - official website
- Janet Maslin, Kika (1993) - Another Sly, Dizzy Romp With Pedro Almodovar, NYTimes, May 6, 1994
- Kevin Thomas, Almodovar's 'Kika': Freewheeling Parable, LATimes, May 6, 1994