The Indomitable Joy of Almudena Grandes

"'Leave me alone!'" Almudena Grandes (1960-2021) would often exclaim with her gravelly voice. It was the favourite phrase of the indomitable writer, a whirlwind of life who generated both sympathy and rejection. Nearly four years after her death, filmmaker Azucena Rodríguez (Madrid, 1955) presents an intimate documentary portrait of her friend in 'Almudena'. It blends the voice of the exuberant writer with those who knew her best, shaping the profile of a "powerful" narrator who despised the adjective "turgid" and whose life was "saved by literature several times".

"I wanted to make a film about Sara Gómez, a character from 'The Difficult Airs' years ago, and I was fortunate to meet Almudena. The film was never made, but we became lifelong friends," explains Rodríguez, who previously adapted 'Atlas of Human Geography' for the screen. Her conversations with the writer, known for her strong convictions and wry humour, and her testimonies, some previously unheard, form a kaleidoscopic and emotional portrait of a force of nature who only succumbed to cancer.

"It alternates the celebration of her life and work with the tremendous void her death left in her surroundings," says the filmmaker. The perspectives of her widower, the poet and current director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero, her children Mauro, Irene, and Elisa, her sister Mónica, or her aunt Lola, are joined by friends like Ángel González, Joaquín Sabina, Elvira Lindo, Benjamín Prado, Eduardo Mendicutti, or pianist Rosa Torres-Pardo, who provides music for the documentary premiering in cinemas this Friday.

It shows Almudena battling for the exact word and relaxing "by cooking béchamel to organise her thoughts". The one with the thunderous laugh that erupts when recalling how her siblings teased the "fat and hairy" child she was by telling her she was picked up by gypsies, the one who exclaimed "Cervantes, in prison, could write more peacefully than I can here!" amidst domestic chaos, or the devoted Atlético de Madrid fan even when weakened by chemotherapy.

Her absence becomes presence at her desk in her Madrid home. But she appears in full at the San Isidro festival proclamation, at summer dinners in Rota, or during her beach walks. Her daughter Elisa, ideologically opposite to her parents, recalls the death of her baby 15 days after birth, shortly after losing her mother. García Montero recounts the loss of his parents in a disastrous year for the family. Mauro, from a previous marriage, remembers his mother enjoying the works of Stephen King, '50 Shades of Grey', or 'Game of Thrones'.

Grandes explains her way of understanding the world, life, and literature, which she shaped in countless interviews and appearances over more than thirty years. The adult Almudena converses with the young woman newly arrived in literature to reinforce her decision to become a novelist and the crucial role of individual and collective memory in her work.

García Montero recounts how she "chose to be a writer instead of famous" after the success of 'The Ages of Lulu', her legendary first novel, which at 28 won the La Sonrisa Vertical prize and was adapted into a film by Bigas Luna. She renounced being the erotic author she was expected to become to forge herself as a "quality writer". She published 'I'll Call You Friday' and insisted on applying her talent "to connect people's lives with history", as Galdós did.

Her novels give voice to the young, especially women, who matured during the transition and the movida. She later extended her sentimental chronicle to those who fought for democracy for over four decades. She thus narrated the transformation of Spanish society throughout the 20th century with her ambitious 'Episodes of an Endless War'. A Galdosian epic about the losers with titles like 'Inés and Joy', 'The Reader of Julio Verne', 'The Three Weddings of Manolita', 'The Patients of Doctor García', 'The Mother of Frankenstein', and the unfinished 'Mariano in the Bidasoa'.

The documentary avoids the cruel diatribes that the most reactionary right-wing dedicated and continues to dedicate to a red, republican, and anticlerical narrator. Both García Montero and Rodríguez know that in the face of the persistent hatred on social media, it is better to speak of friendship and joy as a way of life, which she exemplified.