Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal are lovers – former and current – in the short film Strange way of livinga western signed by Pedro Almodóvar.
Co-produced by Saint Laurent Productions, the cultural arm of the fashion house, and by El Deseo, the Almodóvar brothers’ company, Strange way of livinglasting 32 minutes, was presented at the Cannes Film Festival last May.
Having filmed where Sergio Leone filmed his trilogy with Clint Eastwood, Pedro Almodóvar uses the codes of the western to make them his own. The lone rider coming to town? Yes, it’s Silva (Pedro Pascal). The single sheriff who wants to apprehend his sister-in-law’s murderer? Yes, it’s Jake (Ethan Hawke).
To make matters worse, the two men have not seen each other for 25 years, but know each other well. Intimately even since they were lovers in what Jake will describe as a “moment of madness”. But madness takes over and, with the help of wine, the two men succumb to a new moment of passion… before Jake asks himself questions.
Firstly an exercise in style, this Strange way of living is not without its charms. Pedro Almodóvar has fun, but without his usual humor, playing with the typical iconography of cowboy films, giving all the desired relief to the symbolism of the guns, the duel in full sun, the blood and the care that Silva will provide to Jake .
Yes, at 32 minutes, this short is a bit… short. But was there room for more?
Strange way of living is presented in theaters with The human voice, the short film that Pedro Almodóvar directed in 2020 with Tilda Swinton. The two films are presented in the original English version with French subtitles at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma Beaubien, Cinéma du Musée and Cinéma Le Clap Sainte-Foy from October 20.