Broken Embraces 2009

     This film is about passion, obsession, wealth, jealousy, family, guilt and creativity.  In Madrid, Harry Caine is a blind screenwriter and he is assisted by Judit and her son Diego.  The past comes rushing in when Harry learns of the death of Ernesto Martel.  He is a wealthy businessman and Ernesto's son pays Harry a visit.  In a series of flashbacks to the 1990s, we see Harry, he was at this time Mateo Blanco, a director.  He falls in love with Ernesto's mistress, Lena and he casts her in a film financed by Ernesto.  This arrangement causes Ernesto to be jealous and obsessive.  He sends his son to film the making of the movie, to follow Lena and Mateo and to give him the daily footage.  Judit doesn't like Lena and this is a collision course waiting to happen!!  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

     This drama, like Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s other movies, is a complex, engrossing story with themes that are too mature for even most older teens, including infidelity and spousal abuse.  Expect frank sexual discussions and some steamy scenes.   Lots of moaning and groaning, as well as close-up views of naked breasts, domestic violence (a man pushes his wife down the stairs), swearing and drug use.

     This film borders being melodramatic and plot twists involving drug abuse gone awry seem random.  There is kind of an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink thrown into the mix feel?  This confusion crowds out the pure drama within.  There are references to cinematic history and the movie industry itself that may please film buffs.  But, they won’t necessarily impress them because there isn’t anything that’s never been seen before from Almodovar or anyone else??

127 min. Drama and written by Pedro Almodovar with Penelope Cruz, Louis Homar, Blanca Portillo, Jose Luis Gomez, Ruben Ochandiano, Tamar Novas, Angela Molina, Chus Lampreave, Kimi Manver, Lola Duenas, Mariola Fuentes, Carmen Machi, Kira Miro, Rossy de Palma.

Note:  Imdb 7.2* out of 10* with 38,493 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 82% with 157 critics 75% with 20,524 audience scores, Common Sense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo 3* out of 5*, age 18+, Roger Ebert 4*, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 216 reviews, Letterboxd 3.6* out of 5* with 38 fans,  The Guardian 4* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw.

Special Note:  The film within a film 'Girls And Suitcases' is loosely based on Pedro Almodovar’s own film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988).  'Rossy De Palma' appears in both films in different roles.  In an interview with El País in March 2009, Pedro Almodovar stated that the idea for the lip reader played by Lola Duenas came from watching the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Asturias on Spain's Telecinco.  The services of a lip reader were employed by the news channel to relay what the couple were saying to each other as they stood at the altar.

Mistakes:  When the movie goes back to 1992, Ernesto Martel speaks from his office about getting a contract to build the Caracas' Metro.  This Metro was built more than 10 years earlier than 1992.  At the end of the movie, during the time Matteo remakes the video, we see two chairs in old video record that are made by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola for Italian furniture brand Moroso.  One chair is an Antibodi chaise lounge, produced in 2006.  When Lena started to open a door for woman in a red dress, we see both chairs.  Also, outside in the terrace we can see another chair designed by P. Urquiola for Moroso a Tropicalia chair produced in 2009.  But from 1990 to 1996 P. Urquiola was the assistant professor to Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli at the Politecnico Di Milano and ENSCI in Paris.