Reception
Dark Habits, Almodóvar’s third film, was produced by Tesauro and appeared in 1983. It was rejected by the Cannes Film Festival on account of its apparently sacrilegious treatment of religion, and although it had its premiere on 9 September at the Venice Film Festival, some of the organizing committee considered it blasphemous and anti-Catholic and it was not shown in the official section.
The Italian critics were divided in their opinions. The film critic of the Venetian Il Gazzetino described the film as scandalous, but his counterpart in Corriere Della Sera saw Almodóvar as a true heir of the acclaimed Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini and applauded his attack on the repressive nature of formal religion. When a month later, Dark Habits opened in Madrid, the Spanish critics reacted in a similar fashion.Dark Habits was a modest success, and cemented Almodóvar’s reputation as the enfant terrible of the Spanish cinema.
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