The films of Pedro Almodovar have demonstrated great cross-over appeal in their ability to attract both mainstream and marginal audiences and to command critical as well as commercial success. This volume seeks to analyse the multiple contexts of Almodovar’s international success. It offers a corrective to the glib approaches to discussions of Almodovar’s work, which have seen it either as the latest contribution to the travel poster image of romantic Spain , or as historical joyrides through the global pop culture scene. Drawing on disciplines that run from psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, film and media studies, and cultural theory to the empirical study of audience response, the authors share a concern to illuminate the specifically Spanish context of the director’s films. The book’s main aim is to project contemporary Spain into the critical debate on the forms and functioning of postmodern culture and society.