Marisa Peredes and Cecilia Roth in "All About My Mother."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Cecilia Roth Director: Pedro Almodovar Rated: R, with profanity, sex issues. In Spanish with English subtitles Length: 101 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Dec. 22, 1999) -- In Pedro Almodovar's brilliant All About My Mother, the creator of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown has a new theory: If it wasn't for women, we'd all be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The Spanish director's new film is a flamboyant yet poignant homage to women of all sorts. His main point: They're to be respected as the caregivers of humanity.

In outrageous ways that are typically "Almodovar," the filmmaker puts his brightly colored spotlights on madonnas and whores, women from the real life of the streets, from the make-believe world of stage and screen, and even from the transsexual fantasies of men who strive to be women. In All About My Mother, even the father becomes a mother.

Cecilia Roth stars as Manuela, the single-parent mother of 17-year-old Esteban. As the film opens, the boy is killed in a shocking -- and superbly filmed -- accident.

Manuela works as a "transplant coordinator" at a Madrid hospital, so she knows what to do with her son's heart. The organ is quickly on its way to save a man's life.

But what can she do with her own troubled heart? The film follows Manuela as she reaches out for help -- from the actors in a play, from the friends of her youth back in Barcelona, and even from Esteban's long-estranged father. Except his name is "Lola" now.

The transgender references will come as no shock for long-time Almodovar fans. He's noted almost as much for exploring the blurred nature of sexuality as he is for launching Spanish actor Antonio Banderas to international fame.

However, viewers may be surprised to see the filmmaker's more mature, less manic approach to openly emotional material. Once famous for super-sexed screwball comedies, he's now made what's been called a screwball drama: He's after far more than quick laughs.

Almodovar also has long espoused affection for the golden age of film -- and for the poetic plays of Tennessee Williams -- and both elements surface in All About My Mother. The filmmaker peppers the movie with stylistic references to the women-loving films of directors George Cukor and Douglas Sirk and pays tribute to Williams' greatest character, the tragic Blanche Dubois of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Williams' play is at the heart of All About My Mother. Several characters gravitate to a Spanish-language production of the play, and two of the film's central characters have played the legendary role.

Like Blanche, the emotionally scarred Manuela depends "on the kindness of strangers."

In All About My Mother, they're all women.