El 'double act' de Bibí Andersen y Victoria Abril: 'Tacones lejanos' como la consolidación de una pareja recurrente en el 'star system' de la transición

Josep Lambies; Violeta Kovacsics

doi:10.24310/fotocinema.31.2025.21506

Authors

Josep Lambies Universitat Pompeu Fabra Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8260-7484
Violeta Kovacsics Universitat Pompeu Fabra Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6782-5443

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24310/fotocinema.31.2025.21506

Keywords:

Almodóvar Pedro, Bibí Andersen, Victoria Abril, Intertextuality, trans body, Star Studies

Agencies: MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, FEDER/UE

Abstract

The double act of Victoria Abril and Bibí Andersen in Tacones lejanos (High Heels, Pedro Almodóvar, 1991) is formed from two films in which the two actresses had appeared together previously: Cambio de sexo (Sex Change, Vicente Aranda, 1977) and La noche más hermosa (The Most Beautiful Night, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, 1984). These prior collaborations permeate Almodóvar’s film, thus enhancing the intertextual character of his cinema. Through a methodological discourse grounded in star studies and concepts from transfeminist studies, the article addresses the importance of intertextuality in Almodóvar’s cinema, where actors and actresses also function as vehicles for citation. Furthermore, the article demonstrates that in High Heels, Almodóvar revisits a narrative about the subversion of gender codes and the patriarchal order, which Andersen and Abril had already begun to construct in the early years of the Spanish transition.

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Author Biographies

Josep Lambies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Josep Lambies holds a PhD in Communication from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), where he is currently involved in a research project focused on Spanish actresses during the Transition period. His research interests include star studies, which he approaches through the lenses of feminism and queer theory. He has recently published papers on American stars such as Julie Andrews, as well as Spanish actresses like Esperanza Roy and Amparo Muñoz, in journals such as Feminist Media Studies, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, and L'Atalante. Revista de Estudios Cinematográficos. In addition to his academic writing, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at various institutions, including Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Cinema and Audiovisuals (ESCAC).

Violeta Kovacsics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Violeta Kovacsics is an academic, film critic, and programmer based in Barcelona. She holds a PhD in film studies from Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, with a thesis on contemporary film and the philosophy of language. She teaches Film and Gender, with a special focus on queer theory, at the Master’s degree of ESCAC and Film and Literature Pompeu Fabra University. Additionally, she serves as an advisor at international film festivals, such as the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival in Germany.

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