Page - 92 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

92 | Natalie fritz www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 89–94 in the narrative context, however, it becomes clear that this woman, Nina, is an ac- tress playing stella Kowalski in Tennessee Williams’ drama A Streetcar named Desire.10 So, she is neither the mother of the baby doll (!) on stage nor a mother as Nina. As an actress, Nina is able to switch professionally between different identities. Even though she seems to act convincingly, it is just a theatrical role. One could say that Almodóvar uses Nina to demonstrate that, like the Catholic Mother Mary, she is just the subject of projection related to specific social discourses and cultural contexts. The association with motherhood functions primarily on an aesthetic level, because every recipient tries to make sense of a specific representation by reverting to a par- ticular cultural background knowledge,11 which here is intentionally directed by alm- odóvar towards Marian iconography. During the development of the story line this intention becomes even more explicit and almodóvar works in a scene where a pur- ported Chagall painting showing The Madonna of the Village can be recognised (fig. 2). here again, the aesthetic realisation makes the logical link to motherhood. But within the context one understands how skilfully almodóvar plays with aesthetic con- ventions and the dominant readings associated with them. The Chagall Madonna is a fake made by a mother who does not act very motherly at all, threatening her daugh- ter rosa, the nun, not to leave for el salvador but to stay for her father’s sake. The forgery in this context can be read as a reflection on authenticity and its relation to identity concepts and in a wider sense again on meaning-making processes.12 almo- 10 A Streetcar Named Desire itself is a drama about family, identity and authenticity. 11 see schade/Wenk 2011, 120–128. 12 if we understand authenticity from a cultural studies perspective as the result of allocations evoked by a particular way of acting, whether we perceive an identity in its performance as authentic or Fig. 1: The woman on the right is not what she seems to be (Todo sobre mi madre, 00:10:43).