2011 Cannes Film Festival Marathon: Broken Embraces

(Premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival in Competition for the Palme D’or)

2006’s Volver was a massive hit for Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar as it won the director various prizes including a Best Screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival while his ensemble of female actresses including longtime collaborator Penelope Cruz won the Best Actress prize at the festival. Even as Cruz received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress proving that Almdovar is still on top. Following a break, Almodovar re-teamed with Penelope Cruz for their fourth collaboration for a multi-layered project about love and its complications set in a noir setting entitled Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces).

Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, Los Abrazos Rotos is a multi-layered film set into three different years about a blind writer reflecting on his years as a film director when he fell for a woman whose husband is a powerful businessman. A film that meshes film noir along with elements of mystery and Almodovar’s own brand of humor. It’s a film where Almodovar plays with genres where he pays tributes to 1950s American film noir while also having fun with his own work. Also starring Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo, Tamar Novas, Ruben Ochandiano, Jose Luis Gomez, and appearances from Almodovar regulars Angela Molina, Rossy Palma, Lola Duenos, and Chus Lampreave. Los Abrazos Rotos is a stylish yet hypnotic film from Pedro Almodovar.

Once a great filmmaker until he turned blind, Mateo Blanco (Lluis Homar) has been living his life as a writer who helps create scripts for other filmmakers under his preferred pseudonym Harry Caine. With help from his longtime agent/friend Judit (Blanca Portillo) and her adult son/club DJ Diego (Tamar Novas), Harry is able to get work while Diego aspires to be a screenwriter. When Harry learns that a millionaire named Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez) has died, he recalls the story about Martel’s mistress in a secretary named Magdalena (Penelope Cruz) back in 1992. Magdalena was a part-time hooker whom Ernesto was attracted to while he helped her cancer-stricken father be moved to a hospital.

During a busy day, Harry gets a visit from a man named Ray X (Ruben Ochandiano) wanting to work with him on a project. After pitching the project to Harry who doesn’t want to do it, Ray says something that Diego overhears as Harry realizes who it is as does Judit. Revealed to be Ernesto’s son, Judit orders Diego to watch for him while she has to go to the U.S. for business as he is also asked to watch over Harry. When Diego reveals to Harry about a script idea relating to vampire lovers, Harry helps him structure the story. Diego is excited by the idea of a script until he accidentally drinks something with a drug that got him sick. Harry learns what happens as he decides to be by his side as he tells Diego a story about Martel and Magdalena that Judit doesn’t want to tell.

Two years after helping Magdalena, she becomes Martel’s mistress while has aspirations to be an actress. Accompanied by Ernesto Jr., she auditions for Mateo that doesn’t go well at first until he wants to see her again. She gets a part for a comedy called Chicas y maletas (Girls and Suitcases) with Ernesto Jr. documenting everything in the production. Yet, Ernesto Jr. is really served as a spy for what happens as Martel is suspicious about Magdalena’s growing relationship with Mateo. Even as he hires a lip-reader (Lola Duenos) to help out where it becomes clear that Mateo and Magdalena are falling for each other. With Martel wanting to stop the affair by doing anything as possible to stop the production. Instead, the love grows strong where they go away for a while only to find out what Martel is doing to Mateo’s film as Harry through Diego learns what really happened to his film. Even as Judit, following her return from the U.S., confesses what’s happened along with the idea of why Ernesto Jr. has shown up to meet Harry.

The film is about a man reflecting on the woman he had loved and what happened when she is taken by the man she was with. Yet, it’s told largely through flashbacks along with a multitude of perspectives about this beautiful woman who would be the object of Mateo’s desires but also the ire of jealousy in a man named Martel. The story is told in four different worlds and periods. 1992 when Magdalena meets Martel. 1994 when Magdalena meets and falls for Mateo where around the same time, the film that Mateo is trying make is also told. The fourth and last piece is from 2008 where Mateo is now Harry Caine as he tells the story to Diego, who is keen on wanting to know the secret his mother has been keeping from him since Ernesto Jr.’s appearance.

The film has Almodovar not just playing with the noir genre as well as the mystery aspects as the character of Diego is the one trying to learn what has happened and how Harry became blind. With Diego playing the audience of sorts, he learns about Magdalena, Martel, Martel’s son, Harry when he was Mateo, and his own mother. Each of those individuals have their own motives and reasons for either keeping secrets or trying to reveal things. Yet, Almodovar doesn’t portray them as heroes nor villains but rather as human beings. Martel might seem like a true villain, it’s easy to think about that though he is someone so in love with Magdalena that he’s even tried to help her dying father.

Almodovar’s script does have a lot of dramatic elements for many of the film’s flashback sequences as it is an ode to film noir. Even as it includes a scene where Martel does something to Magdalena that is like a lot of noir films. The film within a film called Chicas y maletas is really Almodovar’s Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) with some changes as Almodovar gets a chance to make fun of himself. The mixture of noir, comedy, melodrama, and suspense would’ve made the film uneven but Almodovar is able to make it unify into a wonderful story that leaves the audience a chance to piece everything together.

Almodovar’s direction is definitely hypnotic in his framing as he often shoots scenes with a broad scope. Even if it’s an intimate room setting with two people in the frame just so the audience can look at the world they’re living in. The stylization of the shots from the noir-like compositions for many of the film’s dramatic moments to the vibrancy of the film that Mateo is making. Even in the scenes where Mateo and Magdalena go to the Lanzarote island where the canvas is much broader and the compositions are richer. Even in those scenes where the characters briefly speak English for a moment showing Almodovar going outside of the box. Almodovar also goes into the use of old-school video cameras for many of the material shot by Ernesto Jr. where there is a great scene where Magdalena says everything that’s needed to be said in Ernesto’s video. The direction overall is masterful as it shows Almodovar refining his style while taking on a few new ideas in the process.

Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto does a phenomenal job with the look of the film that ranges into a variety of moods. From the vibrant colors of the Chicas y maletas film to the noir-like look for many of the scenes at Martel’s home. Prieto’s photography is definitely a technical highlight of the film the way he shoots the stark but also peaceful world of Lanzarote to the world that is Madrid. Even as Prieto does some wonderful grainy camera for the film’s documentary footage.

Longtime Almodovar collaborator Jose Salcedo does a great job with the film’s editing. Particularly with its leisured pace and transitions in moving the film back and forth from flashback to present time. Salcedo’s cutting is mostly straightforward in its presentation but helps build the suspense slowly so the audience can get a chance to figure out what is going on.

Production designer Antxon Gomez, along with art director Victor Molero and set decorators Marta Blasco and Pilar Revuelta, does a fabulous job with the set pieces from the apartments that Harry and Judit live in along with the lavish home of Martel that represents his persona. Costume designer Sonia Grande does an excellent job with the costumes from the casual clothes that everyone wears to the stylish, dazzling dresses that Magdalena wears throughout the entire movie and such. Sound editor Peyalo Gutierrez and mixer Miguel Rejas do a wonderful job on the sound from the way shoes are heard when people are walking on marble floors to the atmosphere of the film set.

The film’s score by longtime Almodovar associate Alberto Iglesias is amazing for its dramatic orchestral score that plays to the noir tone of the film. Even as Iglesias mixes his Spanish folk sound with an orchestra to portray not just Mateo’s longing for Magdalena but also Martel’s jealousy. Iglesias’ work is truly superb while the rest of the soundtrack features a swelling orchestral piece from Miguel Poveda, a couple of electronic tracks, a piece by Can, and a cover of Michael Hurley’s Werewolf by Cat Power that plays to the haunting tone of the film.

The casting by Luis San Narciso does a superb job with the casting as the film includes numerous cameos from many of Almodovar’s array of regular actors and collaborators. Among them include Rossy de Palma, Carmen Machi, and Chus Lampreave as characters from Chicas y maletas along with Angela Molina as Magdalena’s mother, Kiti Manver as Magdalena’s brothel boss, Mariola Fuentes as an assistant of Mateo, and Lola Duenos as a lip-reader for Martel. Other notable small roles include Kira Miro as a model whom Harry would have sex with early in the film along with Alejo Sauras as a friend of Diego’s, and Ramon Pons as Magdalena’s dying father. Ruben Ochandiano is excellent as the devious Ray X who hopes to blackmail Harry while as Ernesto Jr., is a young filmmaker with long hair and pimples on his face who is desperate to become a filmmaker.

Tamar Novas is superb as Diego, Harry’s longtime assistant who aspires to be a writer while learning about the secrets that Harry has kept while becoming the man who helps Harry piece the missing pieces of the puzzle. Jose Luis Gomez is great as Ernesto Martel, a man who loves Magdalena but couldn’t bear to see her with another man as his desperation to have her would lead to some unimaginable things. The film’s best supporting performance definitely goes to longtime Almodovar regular Blanca Portillo as Judit, a longtime associate of Mateo/Harry who is haunted by Ray’s presence. Portillo does a magnificent job in portraying a troubled carrying secrets while admitting to her own guilt while not making her character pathetic despite her actions and motives.

Penelope Cruz is radiant in her role as Magdalena where she encompass all styles of beauty including an ode to the late, great Audrey Hepburn. While it may not top her performance in Volver, Cruz is able to showcase her range by being funny and relaxed in some moments while being dramatic and melancholic in other scenes. It’s definitely one of her best roles to date. Finally, there’s Lluis Homar in a spectacular performance as Mateo Blanco/Harry Caine. For Mateo, Homar plays a man who is an accomplished artist who finds a muse in Magdalena and falls for her. When he’s Harry Caine, he’s a man who still has some charm but also some regret over what happens while wondering what went wrong. It’s a mesmerizing role for Homar who is definitely one of the best actors working today internationally.

Los Abrazos Rotos is a remarkable yet spellbinding noir-thriller from Pedro Almodovar and company featuring top-notch performances from Penelope Cruz and Lluis Homar. Fans of Almodovar will definitely see this as another winning achievement from the renowned Spanish auteur. Even as his collaboration with Cruz, in four films so far, has cemented their place as one of the best director-actor collaborations in film. In the end, Los Abrazos Rotos is a chilling yet hypnotic film from Pedro Almodovar.

Pedro Almodovar Films: Pepi, Luci, Bom - Labyrinth of Passion - Dark Habits - What Have I Done to Deserve This? - Matador - Law of Desire - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! - High Heels - Kika - The Flower of My Secret - Live Flesh - All About My Mother - Talk to Her - Bad Education - Volver - The Skin I Live In - I'm So Excited! - Julieta - Pain & Glory - (The Human Voice (2020 short film)) - (Parallel Mothers)

The Auteurs #37: Pedro Almodovar Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2011

Bad Education

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 6/19/07.

Following the back-to-back Oscar-winning success of his films with 1999's Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) and Hable con Ella (Talk to Her). Pedro Almodovar was clearly on top of the world where the latter film, won him an Oscar for Best Screenplay and gave him a nomination for Best Director. Following the success of those two films, Almodovar decided to return to far more personal work that represented his own childhood. Turning to the works of Alfred Hitchcock and film noir, Almodovar released what some called one of his darker films with 2004's La Mala Educacion (Bad Education).

Written and directed by Almodovar, La Mala Educacion is a multi-layered film about a film director who was recently visited by an old childhood friend whom he hadn't seen in years. The friend gives him a script that is based on their own life in Catholic school and their involvement with a priest, who had abused them physically and sexually. A far more complex film than Almodovar's previous work, the film shows the director taking risks into genres as well as his own personal childhood experiences. Starring Fele Martinez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Javier Camara, Lluis Homar, and Leonor Watling. La Mala Educacion is a harrowing yet powerful film from Pedro Almodovar.

It's 1980 as a film director named Enrique (Fele Martinez) is trying to figure out a new project to work on. Arriving into his office is a young man named Ignacio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who claims to be the childhood friend of Enrique back in school during the early 60s. Calling himself Angel now, Ignacio gives Enrique a script called La Visita (The Visit) where part of the film was inspired by the two men's days in Catholic school as boys and the other part is inspired by Ignacio's life. Enrique reads the story which rings true in some parts.

La Visita tells the story of a drag queen named Zahara (Gael Garcia Bernal) who attracts the attention of a man named Enrique Serrano (Albert Ferreiro). Zahara seduces him only to learn who he really is as he and friend Paquito (Javier Camara) steal Enrique's bike as they figure out what to do next. Going to a church nearby an old school, it is the same school that Zahara's brother Ignacio and his friend Enrique used to go to. In that church and running the service is Father Manolo (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) who was Ignacio's favorite teacher. Zahara tries to talk to Manolo while Paquito steals objects from the service as Zahara later gets into Manolo's office. The discussion became about Ignacio.

Enrique then reads the part that is about his own childhood back in Catholic school. He reads of an unusual attraction between Manolo and the young Ignacio (Nacho Perez) as the two enjoyed each other's company. Manolo was Ignacio's favorite teacher as during a futbol game, Ignacio finds himself the center of attention in front of another student named Enrique (Raul Garcia Forneiro). Ignacio and Enrique immediately become more than friends as they would often sneak out of school to watch the cinema to see Esa Mujer starring Sara Montiel. Then one night as Ignacio was coughing, Enrique followed him where they were caught by Manolo. Manolo expelled Enrique while deciding not to punish Ignacio.

Angel returns to hear that Enrique wants to do the script as his next feature. Angel is interested in playing Zahara though Enrique isn't sure. During a night when the two decided to hang out, Enrique becomes suspicious over a pop song Angel doesn't remember. Things get even stranger when Enrique is wondering if Angel really is Ignacio while Angel decides to take his time to study in being a drag queen with help from a performer named Sandra. Enrique goes to Valencia to meet with Ignacio's mother (Petra Martinez) where he learned that Ignacio had a brother named Juan. The suspicion grows as he learned some truths about Ignacio and a man named Berenguer (Lluis Homar).

After deciding to give Angel the part of Zahara for the film version of La Visita, Enrique moves forward with the film as he changes the ending in which the meeting between Zahara and Manolo is given more dramatic tension with help from another real-life character in Father Jose (Francisco Maestre). During this last day of film, Enrique receives an unexpected visit from Berenguer whose identity is unveiled. There, Enrique learns the dark truth about Juan and Ignacio and what happened in this aftermath.

While the film follows the traditional guidelines of film noir, Pedro Almodovar doesn't entirely follow traditions of the genre. Yet, he uses guidelines to move his story forward while trying to make the audience guess and such. The suspense that Almodovar goes for definitely works in building a momentum for the audience to figure out what's going to happen. While some audiences might be confused into what was fiction and what's real, the ending has a big payoff where the major characters come together. Yet, the film isn't really about child abuse, Catholic schools, cinema, or anything. It's really about a love triangle between two young men and their priest and how fragile the relationship becomes. When Berenguer's story is revealed in relation to Juan and Ignacio, his identity is already known to audience but the aftermath of this relationship becomes very complex and tragic in the end.

Almodovar deserves a lot of credit for telling a personal story of his own childhood in Catholic school by making it into a film noir-like story. While his script and direction isn't entirely perfect, Almodovar's visual language and complex layering of subplots is purely masterful. Even some of the scenes like the futbol scene is done with some wonderful, slow-motion editing and direction to give the sense of poetry to the story. Even the references that Almodovar puts in the film whether it's a couple of movies reveal the roots of where Almodovar gets the inspiration to write this story. In the end, it's the complex nature and haunting approach to storytelling that proves Almodovar's mastery in filmmaking.

Cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine does some wonderfully, vivacious camera work to bring a lot of style to the film's layered stories. Whether it's the dark intimacy in the stories of Ignacio and Zahara to more colorful schemes in the scenes with Enrique to the more, wider shots of the young Ignacio, young Enrique sequences. Longtime editor Jose Salcedo does some amazing editing to take some of the film's unique plot structure to play with the audience's mind and such. Art director Antxon Gomez and set decorator Pilar Revuelta do excellent work in creating the colorful look of Enrique's home and the differing places the film takes place whether it's the church or the land of Valencia. Costume designer Paco Delgado does some wonderful work in creating the film's clothes, notably a few of the costumes Gael Garcia Bernal wear in drag along with a costume during a performance that was created by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Sound editor Rosa Ortiz does excellent work in creating the suspense of the film, notably a scene where young Ignacio sings Moon River with Manolo.

Longtime composer Alberto Iglesias creates a wonderfully, dramatic score with a harrowing orchestra to create the suspense while using the music of Henry Mancini for the film's opening and closing credits sequence. Standards are also featured along with a pop song that was referenced during the film.

The film's cast is wonderfully assembled that features cameos from Almodovar as a pool man and Hable con Ella's Leonor Watling in a cameo as a wardrobe assistant. Small roles from drag queen Sandra, Petra Martinez as Ignacio's mother, Juan Fernandez as Enrique's assistant Martin, Francisco Maestre as Father Jose, and Francisco Boira as a fictional version of Ignacio are wonderful. Nacho Perez is excellent as the young Ignacio along with Raul Garcia Forneiro as the young Enrique. Alberto Ferreiro is good as the fictional Enrique while Hable con Ella's Javier Camara is very funny as Paquito. Lluis Homar is excellent as the shady, complex Berenguer who reveals his guilt and desperation into the role he played in the mystery. Daniel Gimenez Cacho is excellent as the sympathetic yet troubled Father Manolo in a compassionate yet eerie performance.

Fele Martinez gives an amazing performance as Enrique, the film's protagonist as a man who tries to uncover the truth about his childhood friend. Martinez's performance is very subdued in how he reacts to things while trying to seduce Angel into rekindling their childhood passion. It's a great performance from the Spanish actor. Then there's Gael Garcia Bernal in what has to be one of his essential performances. The Mexican actor truly brings a layer of complexity to the roles he plays in the film. None of the characters he plays are the same nor are they performed in a similar manner. In drag, Bernal truly captures the look and feel of a woman from the way he walked to the way he does his arm movements. In the role of Angel, he acts very shady and with a lot of restraint. There's something that Bernal does that is truly a marvel to watch. It's truly one of his greatest performances that further establishes himself as one of his generations best actors.

Released in 2004 and opening the Cannes Film Festival that same year, the film drew controversy in the U.S. over some of its sexual content. The film received a NC-17 rating though it didn't hurt the film's modest performance in the box office. Yet, some claimed the rating was undeserved that only further the claim that the MPAA was homophobic. Still, the film did give Almodovar more praise but was overshadowed by another Spanish film that same year in Alejandro Amendabar's The Sea Inside, that would win an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

La Mala Educacion is a wonderful film from Pedro Almodovar and company. Fans of his work will no doubt consider this as one of his finest while fans of film noir will enjoy his take on the genre. Fans of Gael Garcia Bernal will no doubt, enjoy the young actor's complex performance as it’s a film that definitely challenges its audience. In the end, La Mala Educacion is an excellent, complex film from the great Pedro Almodovar.

Pedro Almodovar Films: Pepi, Luci, Bom - Labyrinth of Passion - Dark Habits - What Have I Done to Deserve This? - Matador - Law of Desire - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! - High Heels - Kika - The Flower of My Secret - Live Flesh - All About My Mother - Talk to Her - Volver - Broken Embraces - The Skin I Live In - I'm So Excited! - Julieta - Pain & Glory - (The Human Voice (2020 short film)) - (Parallel Mothers)

The Auteurs #37: Pedro Almodovar Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2011