Product Details

• Actors: Marisa Paredes, Juan Echanove, Carmen Elías, Rossy de Palma, Chus Lampreave
• Directors: Pedro Almodóvar
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: French, Spanish
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: September 9, 1997
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0800187911
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,538 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #21 in	Video > Spanish Language > Drama
  #28 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Spain
  #52 in	Video > Spanish Language > Cine español

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Pedro Alomodóvar made this misfired, rambling comedy about a romance novelist (Marisa Paredes) whose crumbling marriage has left her depressed and unable to work. At a low point, she writes a scathing indictment of her own books (which are penned under another name), with no one realizing critic and author are one and the same. Almodóvar (Law of Desire) has the start of a great idea here, and for once, he's direct about his sympathy for a character. But nothing else about The Flower of My Secret is so clear. Despite its unusual allegiance to the straightforward "women's films" of the 1950s, this movie blows it by becoming needlessly complicated over extraneous junk, forcing one to grope in the dark for Almodóvar's point. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker

Pedro Almodóvar's new picture feels rather sad and low-key-which is no bad thing, since his high-key work (notably "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" and "Kika") was becoming painful to watch. Leo (Marisa Paredes) is struggling through a wretched marriage and a split in her professional career: she longs to be taken seriously as a novelist but has been churning out schlock romances for years, with horrible success, under a pseudonym. The plot-straightforward, by Almodóvar's standards-involves Leo's efforts to strip the dead wood from her life and discover what's left alive, a process that includes flirting with a literary editor (the Chaucerian Juan Echanove) and making peace with her family. (Chus Lampreave and Rossy De Palma form a great pair as, respectively, Leo's mother and sister.) Almodóvar's script is, as usual, ripe to bursting, and even his sturdiest fans may be weary of flamenco sequences by now. But the movie itself is gracious, affecting, and frenzy-free. In Spanish. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet restrained Almodovar with love to Spanish Culture, July 29, 2003

By	Tsila Sofer Elguez "Tsila Sofer Elguez" (Haifa, Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A quiet restrained Almodovar movie, rich with symbols and style (artistic shots made through different patterns - mirrors, straw chair patterns, etc.). This movie is also a tribute to the Spanish culture - dance, food and various elements of the folklore which appear in lace making, landscape and portrayal of "country people".
This is the story of Leo (Marisa Paredes) who is a writer. Leo writes her stories under a pseudonym as she is not proud of the sugary love stories she writes. This "real/unreal love" is one of the main themes and conflicts of the movie. Leo, under again another pseudonym attacks her own love stories while Angel, her new boss and friend writes in favor of the sugary author. Should we believe the dramatic love story which always comes with a happy ending but is somewhat untrue or should we write / or dream about everyday truthful life where love, like other achievements comes after hard work?
In the opening scene Leo has trouble getting her boots off - the boots are a present from her husband and she wears them although they are so tight she cannot breath. In what is later understood as a very symbolic act she tries to take the boots off in various ways but succeeds only after her friend Betty manages to help her. Betty works in the transplant section of the hospital (transplants and the detailed process of explaining the death of a dear one to his relatives also appear in Almodovar "all about my mother" and Almodovar is definitely doing a great service to this matter). Leo drinks a lot. She is very miserable and misses her husband who is in the army. Leo knows they are having problems but it seems that the viewer is in a better position to understand the nature of their relationship. Leo is both aware of problems yet blind to several facts that are presented to her face (blindness is another motive - as Leo's mother who was brought from the country to live with Leo's sister in the city is half blind, yet there are several things she can "see" very well). When Leo finally understands the truth - she falls apart and is aided back to life by her family and new friend.
This is first of all a love story, but more then that this is a story of loyalty vs. infidelity (on the one hand we have Blanka, Leo's faithful maid and on the other side her close friend), city vs. country, and once and again the question of truth - in relationships, in writing, and maybe in art in general (through the story of Blanka and her son dance group).
Marisa Parades is convincing and is aided by a lovely group of actors of which I would like to mention Leo's sister, Rossy de Palma whose face is so memorable you cannot forget. This actress has also participated in Almodovar movie "Kika" and makes a strong impression.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Almodóvar, August 3, 2000

By	Sylvia Maria Valls (Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico, Old Mex.) - See all my reviews

I agree with what the second reviewer says about this sensitive, passionate, lyrical portrayal of a courageous, strong, disciplined woman whose nemesis, as always, results from the heart. The betrayals she suffers are as profound as her love is and Marisa Paredes comes through as one of the half a dozen or so most important film actresses of the decade. One particular scene, the mother returning to her native village, provides one of the most exquisite moments in film: the background text and the sight and the voice becoming a separate moment of intense recollection and joy. Nothing misfired about this genuine masterpiece. ''Mamadoc'' s.marie

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect story about people's search for love and comfort..., June 8, 2000

By	"zara_azari" (Seattle, USA) - See all my reviews

This film is perhaps especially telling to people in their 40's and 50's, because character's search for love and comfort can only be fully appreciated by people of this age, who are more or less in the same situation as this woman-novelist with numerous emotional problems and no solution to them.

She does find a solution eventually, but you have to wait until the end of the film to see that. It will not dissapoint you at all; in fact, it might surprise you a great deal...

Wonderful supporting characters (e.g. novelist's mother and sister) make this film an outstanding thinking piece about human life. Very deep!