All About My Mother (1999)
(Todo Sobre Mi Madre)
Country: SP/FR
Technical: col/scope 101m
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis:
A single mother who works as a co-ordinator in a transplant clinic loses her son when A Streetcar Named Desire touches her life for the second fateful time, and sets off in search of the errant father, a transsexual prostitute in Barcelona.
Review:
Openly inspired by All About Eve, this is also another variation on the director's peculiar brand of Douglas Sirk melodrama: instead of women suffering in mink we have women suffering with drugs, drink and single parenthood, but still with the colourful trappings. The central performance is a tour de force which sweeps aside any sense of jadedness, and the incidental pleasures - humour, visual flair - are worth the visit. Besides being a riff on Williams's play and Davis's film, it is also a homage to woman, whether actress or mother, and the pain of Manuela's bereavement throbs through the film like a refrain.
(Todo Sobre Mi Madre)
Country: SP/FR
Technical: col/scope 101m
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis:
A single mother who works as a co-ordinator in a transplant clinic loses her son when A Streetcar Named Desire touches her life for the second fateful time, and sets off in search of the errant father, a transsexual prostitute in Barcelona.
Review:
Openly inspired by All About Eve, this is also another variation on the director's peculiar brand of Douglas Sirk melodrama: instead of women suffering in mink we have women suffering with drugs, drink and single parenthood, but still with the colourful trappings. The central performance is a tour de force which sweeps aside any sense of jadedness, and the incidental pleasures - humour, visual flair - are worth the visit. Besides being a riff on Williams's play and Davis's film, it is also a homage to woman, whether actress or mother, and the pain of Manuela's bereavement throbs through the film like a refrain.
(Todo Sobre Mi Madre)
Country: SP/FR
Technical: col/scope 101m
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis:
A single mother who works as a co-ordinator in a transplant clinic loses her son when A Streetcar Named Desire touches her life for the second fateful time, and sets off in search of the errant father, a transsexual prostitute in Barcelona.
Review:
Openly inspired by All About Eve, this is also another variation on the director's peculiar brand of Douglas Sirk melodrama: instead of women suffering in mink we have women suffering with drugs, drink and single parenthood, but still with the colourful trappings. The central performance is a tour de force which sweeps aside any sense of jadedness, and the incidental pleasures - humour, visual flair - are worth the visit. Besides being a riff on Williams's play and Davis's film, it is also a homage to woman, whether actress or mother, and the pain of Manuela's bereavement throbs through the film like a refrain.