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Rapturously received when premiered at Cannes earlier this year, Pedro
Almodovar's All About My Mother is a moving melodrama with plenty of charm and humour. While not all of the latter is intentional, some of it is
truly inspired, and All About My Mother will doubtless delight Almodovar fans. Whether it will win over the sceptics remains to be seen.
Manuela (Cecilia Roth) and her teenage son Esteban live alone in Madrid,
united by a special single mother-son bond. Esteban is naturally
inquisitive about his father who, he has been told by his mother, died
before he was born. On her son's seventeenth birthday, after a theatre
trip to see A Streetcar Named Desire, Manuela prepares to tell him the
difficult truth. But before she has the chance, Esteban is killed in a car
accident while seeking the autograph of Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), the
actress playing Blanche DuBois in the production they have just seen. A
transplant co-ordinator by profession, Manuela signs over Esteban's heart
so that, in some way, he continues to live on. But finding it impossible
to recover from her son's death, she makes a journey to Barcelona to
locate her son's father and inform him of Esteban's life and death.
At this point the plot begins to falter and, entering familiar Almodovar
territory, spins out of control. Manuela, it transpires, once lead an
extraordinary existence in Barcelona. Meeting up once more with her best
friend - a transsexual prostitute called La Agrada (Antonia San Juan) -
together they befriend the actress Huma Roja and a beautiful nun, Sister
Rosa (Penelope Cruz). And Manuela searches for her ex, once also called
Esteban - until he became Lola.
There is a powerful story in here somewhere, if only the editor had cut
more vigorously, and Almodovar kept a check on an artistry and imagination
which force the story beyond belief. Roth is dynamic, but not even she
cannot pull off some truly terrible lines and the farcical scene in which
she and the garishly made-up Lola share their grief over their dead son.
It is Agrada - sassy, witty and unstoppable - who steals the show.
Reviewed by Andrea Henry
Reader comments about All About My Mother
I (belgium) (Email address withheld) writes:
will i ever again see another film that i personally find this totally beautiful - ever again?
Julio Santar Deane (Email address withheld) writes:
I found this film vulgar and decadent. But I can well understand its success, despite its banality, in certain countries where it would be considered "subversive" and outrageous. Perhaps even liberating.
Branko Lazic (Email address withheld) writes:
This is one of the best european films ever made. Almodovar shows complecity of life and all problems wich could come in peopel's lifes. This is something very realistic and becose of that I vote for EUROPEAN production becose it is an ART. Maby we (Europeans) don't have american budgets for high production but we, definitelly, have talent and soul for good and artistic motion picture. This film is, in my opinion, in group of films like are Amelie, Ammores perros, Magnolia etc.
Branko Lazic (Serbia and Mont. / SCG) (Email address withheld) writes:
THIS IS A GREAT MOWIE. IT SHOWS THE POWER OF EUROPEAN FILM PRODUCTION. THIS IS AN ART. French and spanish mowies are the best. They are better then american commercial mowies. Some of american mowies have the aristic elements but the nomber of those mowies is minor, unfortinetly or on luck becose they earn a lot of money on their commerciall production (Rambo, Terminator, Rocky, Blade, Superman... - evan I said this I like those mowies, they are funny but they are not an art and presentation of reality.
Isabel Cordoba (Email address withheld) writes:
I think this film is a great film about life. It's not vulgar at all. In fact, it's a great film without the need of comercial hollywood, which is so cliche and superficial. Hopefully Pedro Almodovar continues on with his great movies.
Lara Dolce (Email address withheld) writes:
I found this one of Almodovars greatest films, its sheer volume of colour and artistic use of camera make for striking visuals while the story follows the similar pattern of melodrama with its use of incredible coincidences. Although i wouldn't put this in the same league as the great Amorres Perros, Amelie or other European classics
Abby Spencer (Email address withheld) writes:
This is a great film, much more meaningful than most English or American films. It challenges prejudices and is also really humourous. I love La Agrado!
Kae McAleese (M1378603@qub.ac.uk) writes:
I thought this film was brilliantly realistic and it encaptures an audience, whether Spanish speaking or not. La Agardo was inspiring and hilarious!
Aidan (Email address withheld) writes:
Marvellous film, very funny. I would recommend it to my friends, if I had any.
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