Vida detenida is a series of photographs taken by the Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar in a domestic, intimate space, during moments of solitude and contemplation. Described by its publisher as a rare and precious book in which things reveal themselves by surprising us, this is an intriguing small project Almodóvar’s many fans will not want to miss.
Lazy Dog Press say, ‘Away from the film set, Almodóvar shoots to perform a deeply pop gesture: transforming ordinary objects – glasses, flowers, plates, utensils – into small secular altars, charged with memory and desire. These are not simple still lifes, but still life as in ‘arrested life’: each object preserves vitality, responds to light, and changes over time. These are photographs without post-production, where the focus lies in emotion rather than perfection. As Almodóvar himself writes: “What interests me is the ecstasy of the moment, staying alert and capturing the emotion of the instant.” This fragile, vibrant tension runs through every shot, where the beauty of the everyday becomes sacred, precarious, and never consoling. Amidst painterly reminiscences – like the work by Isabel Quintanilla that inspires the first shot – and literary echoes – such as the verses by Wordsworth quoted by Simone Azzoni in the afterword – Vida detenida is a poetic journey through a daily life transformed into a postmodern ritual, where objects lose their primary function and become emotional enigmas.
Lazy Dog Press, 24pp, 15cm x 24cm, leporello (accordion/concertina pleat-style format), Italian/English text, first edition 2025
