Pedro Almodóvar, it seems, is haunted by the past.
First, there was Volver’s back-from-the-grave reunion with old muse Carmen Maura. Now check out Broken Embraces’ film-within-a-film, ‘Girls And Suitcases’ – such a thinly veiled avatar of Almodóvar’s late-’80s hit Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown there’s even an appearance by gazpacho soup.
Similar ghosts afflict Suitcases’ director Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar), now blind and living incognito as writer ‘Harry Caine’ until convoluted circumstance dredges up painful memories.
A raunchy opening aside, these present-day scenes are strangely solemn. Pedro’s no longer the agent provocateur he once was, and down-with-the-kids references to drugs and downloads prove embarrassingly clunky.
And yet the extended 1980s flashback to the making of Suitcases is pure Almodóvar, a delirious fiesta of movement and colour driven by a divine Penélope Cruz as Lena, Blanco’s star and lover.
Forget the Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona: nobody gets Penélope like Pedro. The director visibly ups his game whenever Cruz is on screen, the camera swooping and swooning over her fire and fragility.
The broken embrace, then, is Almodóvar’s reticent hug with his own heritage, caught between nostalgia for his youth and his responsibilities as one of arthouse film’s elder statesmen.
The result is a feeding frenzy for auteurist chin-strokers but a frustrating watch for anyone waiting for Almodóvar to break new ground.
DVD Extras:
- Featurette
- Deleted scenes
- Short film
