Broken Embraces & Almodóvar Q&A

Pedro Almodóvar is undoubtedly one of the most popular and respected world cinema directors working today. Constantly feted with prizes at Canne, Berlin and Venice he also manages to secure the odd best foreign picture Oscar nomination (including a win for ‘Talk To Her‘ back in 2002) which are all testament to his reputation and admirers around the world. I don’t like him. OK, let me clarify, I’m exaggerating for comic effect a little there, I have enjoyed some of his films – ‘Matador‘, ‘High Heels‘ and ‘Bad Education‘ but I have found some of his more lauded efforts such as ‘The Flower Of Her Secret‘, ‘Women On The Edge Of A Nervous Breakdown‘ and yes, even ‘Volver‘ to be thoroughly unaffecting projects where I was wasn’t drawn into his world of scorching, passionate melodrama. He’s certainly an auteur, he likes delving into his characters histories where dark secrets are unearthed, he frequently employs fractured or subterfuged identities to comment on some aspect of society or another, he has a healthy fascination with sex throughout his work, like his countryman Bunuel he never passes on the opportunity to give the church a good kicking and you can certainly spot an Almodóvar picture from its visual qualities what with that masterful use of colour in the design and costumes. He kind of reminds me of Fellini with that sense of life being a circus, all the worlds a stage, that sort of thing which coming to think about it is reflected from his frequent employment of entertainers in his work – singers, matadors, actors, TV personalities and in his latest movie ‘Broken Embraces‘ film-stars where Almodóvar has constructed a expertly crafted love letter to the cinema itself. The NFT hosted a special screening of his new film with the unmissable Q&A to follow, whatever my personal opinion on his work any budding cinephile really shouldn’t let the opportunity to see one of the dozen or so most admired directors in the world in discussion slip away. The possibility of Penelope Cruz also making an appearance didn’t factor into my attendance at all. Not in the slightest. Not for one iota of a molecule of a second.

  Told primarily in flashback by the blind film director / writer Harry Caine the film is the story of Lena Rivero, (Cruz) the beautiful mistress of powerful business magnate Ernesto Martel who lures Lena into his bed after he bankrolls her fathers life saving cancer treatment, Lena previously serving as Ernesto’s secretary and unknown to him secretly as a part time, high class hooker. Under Lena’s spell Ernesto is connived into bank-rolling a movie for her to star in, enrolling Harry as the (then sighted) film director Mateo Blanco (he changes his name, it gets complicated OK?) whom immediately falls in love with her and a passionate affair begins. Ernesto’s son is a constant presence on set, his filming of a making off documentary serving as smokescreen for Ernesto’s paranoid suspicions that enable him to gain access to the set, as his suspicions are confirmed his mind turns to violent, jealous revenge….

 There seems to be tradition of prolific directors making a movie about the movies, about the precious nature of the cinematic medium itself – Truffaut with ‘Day For Night‘, Altman with ‘The Player‘, Allen with ‘Shadows & Fog‘, ‘The Bad & The Beautiful‘ for Minnelli and now ‘Broken Embraces‘ for Almodóvar. I’d heard on a Canne themed podcast that his latest hadn’t exactly set the Côte d’Azur alight so I wasn’t expecting a real deal, however I really enjoyed this and I have to say I’m something of a convert to seeing his movies on the big screen where of course his visual strengths and purpose are amplified or rather presented accurately, he is a much more of a cinematic stylist than I gave him credit for. There are some wonderfully staged transitions as the trademark flashbacks elapse, the best being a spooling film dissolving into a god shot, curling pan of some stairs, film as mystery and history coiling away into infinity. The standout scene for me is an intriguing moment that deserves further thought. As mentioned Ernesto’s son has been secretly filming Lena and Mateo on set in an effort to determine if an affair is underway, the footage however is silent so Ernesto employs a lip-reader to talk through the footage which he screens in the central dining room of his ornate mansion. Discovering his subterfuge Lena slips into the room and begins to dub the film herself, providing the silent footage with a real time auditory commentary, severing her relationship with Ernesto in the bargain and leaving him for her one true love.

The Q&A was entertaining as always, Almodóvar did 90% of the talking through his stilted English and patient translator, nevertheless he was an extremely erudite, enthusiastic chap. To be obvious Cruz it has to be said is almost painfully beautiful in the flesh, I’m not her biggest fan on screen but she is one stunningly attractive woman, I was lucky enough to get a front ticket very close to the stage. She looked a little bored to be honest, unsurprising since she was mostly excluded from the discussion with most of the questions going to Almodóvar. She did explain that she saw the character Lena as essentially three different parts – one being herself with as the film opens, one as an actor in both her professional and personal life during her relationship with Ernesto and again as her real self when she is with her one true love Mateo. Almodóvar talked through the obvious film noir elements of the film and many of the other references he included in the plot, characters and in the texture of the film such as the movies playing in the background during dialogue scenes, one of the most obvious being the clip of ‘Voyage To Italy‘ a film which simultaneously comments on the plot of ‘Broken Embraces‘ with the woman trapped in a loveless, false relationship and a allusion to film history itself, Ingrid Bergman having fallen in love with director Roberto Rossellini during this period in the real world which exploded into an enormous scandal that resulted in her exile to Italy and an ostracised infant daughter.

Like many of his generation Almodóvar fears the move toward the digital, further toward the perceived gimmicks of 3D and SFX (although he has a blog) that divorces cinema from its ability to connect with people and conjure stories about their real lives, from character driven explorations that illuminate common elements of the human condition such as love, lust, our relationships with our families and histories, how our lives thus far have forged us as specific, individual creatures – a film director going blind through trauma is a clumsy yet effective metaphor. As such Almodóvar explained that he wanted to create one love-letter to cinema itself, a film which signals an almost physical love for actual tangible film itself, film as an object, illustrated in one plot point in ‘Broken Embraces’ surrounding the seizure of the final cut of the film Mateo is shooting with Lena (which in turn bears more that a passing resemblance to Almodóvar breakthrough 1988 picture), Ernesto premièring a bastardized version of Mateo’s vision in an effort to lure them out from hiding, that seizure being a filmmakers’ greatest nightmare. As you may have guessed it was much of these allusions to film in general that elevated this from the usual Almodóvar fare for me, there is one ridiculously obvious ‘Almodóvarian‘ revelation in the final reel which you can spot in the first, nevertheless the film and Q&A has inspired me to go back and take another look at some of his earlier movies and I haven’t been too dissuaded from this quest even after the disappointing viewing of ‘Talk To Her‘ last night. You can’t say fairer than that.

August 5, 2009 | Categories: Art, Current Affairs, Film, YouTube | Tags: Almodóvar, Cinema, cruz, espania, Film, Movie, penelope cruz, spain, world cinema | 2 Comments