Matador

NC-17

Released Mar 7, 1986

1h 42m

Comedy

Drama

List

93%

27 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Forced to retire after a goring, matador Diego Montez (Nacho Martínez) has since become a teacher. Among his students is Angel (Antonio Banderas), a naive boy so perversely desperate to impress that he attempts to rape Diego's girlfriend, Eva (Eva Cobo). He fails, but turns himself in regardless, also confessing to a series of murders he's recently seen in psychic visions. A lawyer (Assumpta Serna) steps in to defend him, but the police are unconvinced Angel is the real culprit.

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Critics Consensus

Intertwining murder and seduction, Pedro Almodóvar's Matador is a provocative thriller that will shock even the most adventurous moviegoers.

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M R

A pretty dark comedy/mystery film. Very well acted and a weird story to be honest. But good overall. The performances are excellent. But it's like the whole film just led to that one punchline in the end. It felt quite inconclusive to me, but it works. Grade: 80/100 B-

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Movie sucks, just fast forward to the interesting parts

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/28/23

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слободан е

No me ha gustado mucho!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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john m

Almodovar is fucking wild and this might be his most insane film. Banderas plays a character that's pretty impossible to describe. The film takes tons of risks and especially for the 80s and while after one viewing, I have mixed reactions, it's definitely something I need to watch again.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Seductive on the eye, and dreamlike in the fantasy of Sex and Violence. Very convicted and lucid.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Diego Montes (Nacho Martínez) is a bullfighter, forced into early retirement by a goring, and he finds sexual gratification viewing videos of violent deaths. In retirement he teaches bullfighting, and among his students is Ángel (Antonio Banderas), a diffident young man who suffers from vertigo. After class one day, Diego asks Ángel if he is homosexual, noting that he is not experienced with women. Ángel says he is not and vows to prove himself. Later that day, Ángel attempts to rape Eva (Eva Cobo), a model who is both his neighbour and Diego's girlfriend. As she is leaving him, she trips in the mud and gashes her cheek. At the sight of her blood, Ángel faints.The next day, Ángel's mother insists that he go to church as a condition of living in her home. After mass, she insists that he go to confession, but instead of confessing to the priest, he goes to the police station to confess to the rape. When Eva is brought to the station, she says he ejaculated before penetrating her and declines to press charges. Alone with the police detective (Eusebio Poncela), Ángel notices photos of dead men with the same wound. He confesses to having killed them. The detective then asks about two missing women, who were also students of Diego, and Ángel confesses to killing them as well. Although Ángel is able to lead the police to the bodies of the missing women, buried outside Diego's home, the police detective is not convinced. He questions how Ángel could have buried them there without Diego's knowledge, then discovers that Ángel has an alibi for the murder of one of the men. Finally, he discovers that Ángel faints at the sight of blood. Meanwhile, Ángel's lawyer, María Cardenal (Assumpta Serna), the killer of the men, begins to suspect that Diego killed the two women students. She takes Diego to a remote house where she has been collecting memorabilia related to Diego since she first saw him kill a bull. They return to Diego's home, where Eva, who wants to convince Diego not to break up with her, overhears enough to realize that they are the killers... Pedro Almodovar´s "Matador" is a dark tale of sadism, masochism, bullfighting, perverted sexualities and sexual violence and outsiders on the edge of society with a twist of dark humour. Made during the La Movida Madrileña (a countercultural movement that took place mainly in Madrid during the Spanish transition after Francisco Franco's death in 1975. It represented the resurrection of the economy in Spain and the emergence of a new Spanish identity.) I reckon Almodovar saw his chance to go all in with with this depraved story at that point and do whatever to "shock" people in the cinema. It´s a dynamic film with a slightly crazy plotline draped in strong colours as we often have seen Almodovar´s films. It is a bit theatrical in the acting and performances, but that also fits the film. We do get great performances from specifically the stunning Assumpta Serna and Nacho Martinez while Banderas is not 100% convincing in my eyes. Not Almodovar´s best, but well worth a watch for the unique story and the performances.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

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Pedro Almodóvar

Director

Assumpta Serna

María Cardenal

Antonio Banderas

Ángel

Nacho Martínez

Diego Montez

Eva Cobo

Eva

Julieta Serrano

Berta Giménez

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Variety Staff

Variety

Almódovar unfolds this convoluted plot with zig-zagging surrealism and a careening, sordidly erotic energy that effectively undermines the culturally institutionalized repression targeted by the filmmaker.

Jan 30, 2020

Full Review

Peter Travers

People Magazine

The film is fiercely funny, executed in a reckless, raucous rage by the most wantonly gifted new filmmaker on the international scene. Almódovar relishes mocking his country's sacred cows.

Jan 30, 2020

Full Review

Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

If Blue Velvet raised eyebrows, Matador will have some moviegoers blinking in disbelief.

Jan 30, 2020

Full Review

Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Matador is just one more example of a filmmaker throwing caution to the wind and telling the exact story they wish to.

Feb 27, 2024

Full Review

Candice Russell

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Almodóvar celebrates the controversial potential of the medium more so than most other directors at work today. His movies get people talking and thinking.

Jan 30, 2020

Full Review

Harriet Waugh

The Spectator

Bizarre, funny and unexpected.

Jul 19, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

Forced to retire after a goring, matador Diego Montez (Nacho Martínez) has since become a teacher. Among his students is Angel (Antonio Banderas), a naive boy so perversely desperate to impress that he attempts to rape Diego's girlfriend, Eva (Eva Cobo). He fails, but turns himself in regardless, also confessing to a series of murders he's recently seen in psychic visions. A lawyer (Assumpta Serna) steps in to defend him, but the police are unconvinced Angel is the real culprit.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Production Co: Stratus Films
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 7, 1986, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2016
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Stereo

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