# The best Pedro Almodóvar films

The best of Almodóvar's filmography according to rankings in the Spanish press (Telecinco, eCartelera, El Palomitrón) and FilmAffinity and IMDb ratings.

- 29 votes · 16 items
- Dec 15, 2025 · Elena Torres
- https://even.best/en/l/40/the-best-pedro-almodovar-films

## Top 15

1. **Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — 1988. Carmen Maura, a spiked gazpacho and the comedy that made him famous worldwide; Oscar-nominated.
2. **All About My Mother** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — 1999. Cecilia Roth searches for her son's father in Barcelona; Almodóvar's first Foreign Language Oscar and Best Director at Cannes.
3. **Parallel Mothers** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 2021. Two first-time mothers and the memory of Civil War mass graves; Volpi Cup for Penélope Cruz.
4. **Law of Desire** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 1987. Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura and a young Antonio Banderas; the first film from his company El Deseo.
5. **High Heels** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 1991. Victoria Abril and Marisa Paredes as daughter and singer mother, with 'Piensa en mí'.
6. **Talk to Her** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — 2002. Two men care for two women in comas; Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
7. **What Have I Done to Deserve This?** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — 1984. Carmen Maura as an exhausted housewife in a tower block on the outskirts of Madrid.
8. **The Skin I Live In** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 2011. Banderas as an obsessed surgeon; his foray into thriller, almost horror.
9. **The Room Next Door** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 2024. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore; his first feature in English and a Golden Lion in Venice.
10. **The Flower of My Secret** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1995. Marisa Paredes as a romance novelist in crisis; the start of his more sober period.
11. **Julieta** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 2016. Based on three stories by Alice Munro, with Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte.
12. **Volver** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — 2006. Penélope Cruz and a return to La Mancha; its actresses shared the Best Actress award at Cannes.
13. **Pain and Glory** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 2019. Antonio Banderas as the director's alter ego; Best Actor at Cannes and seven Goyas.
14. **Matador** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1986. Assumpta Serna and Nacho Martínez bound by desire and death.
15. **Bad Education** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — 2004. Gael García Bernal in a noir melodrama about abuse at a religious school; it opened Cannes.
16. **Live Flesh** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — 1997. Javier Bardem and Liberto Rabal in a thriller of passion based on Ruth Rendell.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.