455 - Broken Embraces, Spain, 2009. Dir. Pedro Almodovar.

Saturday, March 30, 2018

455 - Broken Embraces, Spain, 2009.  Dir. Pedro Almodovar.

Almodovar makes a thriller.

Well, technically, he has made them before.  But this is the first one I have seen.

When you think of Almodovar, you may think of love, lust, identity, family relations, melodrama, broad comedy, over-the-top situations, high production values, and bright colors.

But what if you add darker elements?

What if you add suspense, mystery, crime (maybe a murder), and psychological ingredients, such obsession, betrayal, and fear.

Not that Almodovar has not done obsession before.  Au contraire.  He may be the Prince of Obsession.

But what about the kind of obsession that leads to pushing your lover down a staircase just keep another man from having her.

We are in Kiss of Death territory here.  Or A Perfect Murder.  Or Dial M for Murder.

Or maybe not.

One is never quite sure with Almodovar.

Because this movie is never quite a thriller.

It is a hybrid.  An Almodovar hybrid.  Retaining all of his usual elements--the romantic drama, the family drama, and the melodrama in addition to the crime drama.  The broad comedy in addition to the suspense.

And high production values and bright colors.  Not shadows.  Not deep focus.  Not low key lighting.

But a pretty compelling car crash.  And that push down the staircase.  And somebody who may have paid somebody to take care of somebody.

A man and a man who love the same woman.

A man and a woman and a woman who all love the same man.

A film at stake.  A film career at stake.  Eyesight at stake.  A life at stake.

And maybe, somehow, after all these years, these 14 years, and all the revelations of betrayal that come at the end of them, maybe, somehow, some healing, some reconciliation.

And a finished film.



Woody Allen's film Hollywood Ending came out in 2002.

Woody Allen cast Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008 (as well as To Rome with Love in 2012).

Pedro Almodovar made Broken Embraces, working with Penelope Cruz yet again, and, while not repeating Hollywood Ending, perhaps appropriating themes from it in a good way, in 2009.