Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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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
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.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite Almodóvar, August 3, 2000
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
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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
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!
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