Rewriting Rendell: Pedro Almodóvar's "Carne trémula"

The 1997 film Carne tremula has been lauded within as well as outside of Spain as one of Pedro Almodovar's best works. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic also have noted that this film marks a departure from Almodovar's previous style, not only because of its tighter plotline and greater psychological depth, but also because Almodovar's treatment of his material is more serious, less self-indulgent, and openly political. Russell Smith has suggested that the film's narrative coherence may be attributed in part to Almodovar's use of Ruth Rendell's novel, Live Flesh (1998), as the basis for his script. This literary source's influence on the film also has been cited by Paul Julian Smith, who notes the strong similarities between the novel's first chapter and events which take place in Came trimula (7). Almodovar's departure from Rendell's plotline for the bulk of his film, however, has caused other critics to discount the importance of the novel entirely: Jose Arroyo says that Rendell's work "seems almost incidental" to Almodovar's creation (51); Jean-- Pierre Jeancolas calls Almodovar's borrowing of Rendell's subject matter "a red herring" [une fausse piste] (52); and most film reviewers merely mention that Almodovar's work is loosely based on Rendell's source. What is the nature of the relationship between the cinematic and literary versions of Live Flesh? In the absence of any critical consensus, the director's own words on the subject provide a valuable insight. According to Almodovar, his adaptation "has almost nothing from the novel anymore, but at least it served as a stimulus" [ya no tiene casi nada de la novela, pero ha servido por lo menos de estimulo] (Strauss 162-63). As such, Almodovar's rendering of Rendell's text falls within the bounds of what Karen Kline calls the "transformation paradigm" of film adaptation, wherein the novel is considered "raw material which the film alters significantly, so that the film becomes an artistic work in its own right" (72). Indeed, Almodovar's rewriting of Rendell's story is so extensive that Carlos F. Heredero speaks of Almodovar as having "vampirized" [vampirizado] the book's basic narrative materials to create a totally new entity (22). Although Heredero does not elaborate on this statement, a comparison of the novel and film reveals that his metaphor is a particularly apt way of describing how this director makes use of the original text. That is, Almodovar extracts the essence of Rendell's book-its premise and main theme-while leaving the rest untouched. But as useful as this metaphor is, it is valid only up to a point. It does not take into account the truly transformational spirit of Almodovar's endeavor. What is taken from the novel is not directly placed into the film. Rather, it is subtly reworked through a process of inversion that fundamentally affects the overall development of plot and character. The events of both Rendell's novel and Almodovar's film unfold as a result of a shooting incident in which a policeman (David) is paralyzed while trying to save a young woman being held at gunpoint by an assailant (Victor) who has entered her apartment. The bitterness which Victor feels due to his subsequent incarceration, and his intrusion into David's life years later, form the basis of both Rendell's and Almodovar's stories. Also common to both the novel and the film is the overarching theme of guilt, which links the characters and ultimately determines the ending of each work. A close examination of these shared elements reveals how Almodovar has caused them to function differently in his cinematic adaptation than in its literary source. Rendell's shooting scene centers on the question of whether. or not the gun in Victor's hand is real. Victor insists that it is. The inspector, who remains outside during the entire scene, contends that it is not. David, who is unarmed and speaking with Victor in the apartment, is unsure. The question is answered when Victor fires the shot which cripples David and sends Victor to jail. …