Pedro Almodóvar once informed an interviewer that the word ‘camp’ does not exist in his native Spain.
It’s a term that international critics used to describe his early films, while lauding the director and applauding the nerve of his risky vision. In some quarters the plaudits were so elaborate they too carried a touch of camp: ‘In terms of dramatic creativity there are three Spanish icons Cervantes, Lorca and Almodóvar.’ Following the breakthrough success of the Oscar-nominated ‘Women On The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown’ in 1988, the word ‘Almodóvarian’ was coined to summarise the signature style of his films: sardonic comedy, melodrama, shock tactics and garish sets. The heightened style was inspired by the golden age of technicolour that captivated him as a child, with a touch of the Memphis group’s design output when it came to those sets. Homosexuality was obligatory; transexuals a staple from his early short ‘Sex Goes, Sex C…