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Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Rubén Ochandiano, Tamar Novas
Run Time: 128 minutes
Country: Spain
Year: 2009
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Rating: 14A (Sexually suggestive scenes)
As Pedro Almodóvar settles into the midpoint of his illustrious
career, his work has achieved a happy balance between
the whiz-kid pyrotechnics of his early days and the more
mature, measured style of his recent films. Broken Embraces,
a Special Presentation at the 2009 Toronto International
Film Festival®, sits somewhere between the two. In addition
to a dense, labyrinthine narrative that jumps time periods, it
also features some fiercely contested, complex relationships.
Furthermore, the master proves that he has lost none of his
skill in managing the demands of a film that touches on his
own métier.
At the centre of this affecting feature sits a blind screenwriter
and former director who has abandoned his real
name, Mateo Blanco, for a pseudonym, Harry Caine, the
first sign of the double life he leads. Harry’s current reality
conceals a fascinating past, which Almodóvar spends
much of his film detailing. The plot is propelled by the arrival
of a brash young man, hot on the heels of news that the
producer of Mateo’s film “Girls and Suitcases” has died. The
film marked a defining period in Mateo’s life, as both he and
his producer had fallen madly in love with a girl who was
cast in the project. The simmering Lena had turned both
of their worlds inside out. She became the love of Mateo’s
life while simultaneously leading a double life with the
film’s producer. But it is the young man on his doorstep that
intrigues and troubles the now blind Harry. Who is he?
Almodóvar skilfully and effortlessly uncovers the secrets
of everyone’s various pasts in this steamy, scheming and
oh-so-romantic melodrama. Penélope Cruz continues to
broaden her palette as a dramatic and comedic actress,
turning the coquettish Lena into a fully rounded and
completely sympathetic schemer, while Lluís Homar, best
known for his role in Bad Education, is both dignified and
skittish in the double role of Harry/Mateo. Almodóvar’s
witty, well-written screenplay provides the intricate canvas on
which this very Spanish dance of life and death is played out.
“Visually, the pic is an exquisite treat. Every richly hued wall
is covered with eye-candy artwork, every doorway reps a
second level of framing, and there is beauty even in the
scattered contents of a drawer or in a pile of torn-up photos.
Closeups are regularly used, particularly of Cruz’s hypnotically
photogenic features.” – Jonathan Holland, Variety
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/brokenembraces
Official Site: www.sonyclassics.com/brokenembraces/
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