Directed by:
Pedro AlmodóvarScreenplay:
Pedro AlmodóvarCinematography:
Rodrigo PrietoComposer:
Alberto IglesiasCast:
Penélope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, Lluís Homar, José Luis Gómez, Tamar Novas, Rubén Ochandiano, Lola Dueñas, Asier Etxeandía, Ángela Molina, Chus Lampreave (more)Plots(1)
Mateo Blanco (Lluis Homar) is a scriptwriter who was in a terribile car accident 14 years ago that killed the woman he loved, Lena (Penelope Cruz), and blinded him. Since then he has gone under the name Harry Caine, choosing to forget his past and the accident, which he never talks about. One night he is required to look after his production manager Judit (Blanca Portillo)'s son Diego (Tamar Novas), after he hurts himself. During the time they spend together until Judit returns, Diego asks about when Harry was called Mateo and so Harry decides to tell the boy the story of his painful past, presenting it as fiction in an attempt to keep Diego entertained. Through his recollections we discover the intense and complex relationships that existed between Mateo, Lena, Judit and Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez). (Pathé Distribution UK)
(more)Reviews (2)
All of you Rosemund Pilchers and Danielle Steels out there had better start getting worried, Almodóvar has broken into the romance fiction market. Boring romance fiction that you’ve seen a hundred times in telenovelas, feebly masked by calling it art. If it weren’t for Penelope, in a couple of years time, we’d be more likely to see this on morning housewives’ TV than on the CT2 Film Club.
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An emotionally incoherent and typically Spanish film that is full of passion. Sometimes it's great, especially when Almodóvar steps out of the interior shots and smoothly transitions to the colorful, loaded exteriors, full of perfectly coordinated colors and half-uttered sentences. You think that the atmosphere is exceptional and it makes sense, but then another cut comes and a ton of dialogue, half of which is unnecessary. It repeats itself, as always. There's too much talking and not enough action. Penelope Cruz is the only one who doesn't even have to speak and she will still be great.
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