MAKING OF all about almodÓver

Dressed in a bright yellow shirt, the silver-haired Pedro Almodóvar is also sporting two watches, one on each wrist. One is “for glamour – and to tell the time” he laughs. And the other? “This is for health reasons. They count the steps that I do every day.” It’s worth mentioning simply because Spain’s most famous film director turns 70 this year, and such issues are uppermost in his mind. Moreover, they form the backbone of his masterful new film, Pain And Glory, which has just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

This 21st film of Almodóvar’s 40-year career is unquestionably his most autobiographical – which is saying something from the director of 1999’s . A self-portrait of an artist, it stars his long-time collaborator Antonio Banderas as ageing and ailing gay film director Salvador Mallo (the name contains all the letters needed to spell ‘Almodóvar’). “This is about him,” says Banderas, in no uncertain terms. “It’s about Pedro Almodóvar.”