Plot
Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela.
Release Year: 1999
Rating: 7.9/10 (39,741 voted)
Critic's Score: 87/100
Director:
Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña
Storyline A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, a wild yet caring transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, but instead finds out she is pregnant by Lola. Manuela becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress her son admired, by helping Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover. However, Agrado soon takes over when Manuela must care for Hermana Rosa's risky pregnancy. With echos of Lorca, "All About Eve," and "Streetcar Named Desire," the mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship.
Cast: Cecilia Roth
-
Manuela
Marisa Paredes
-
Huma Rojo
Candela Peña
-
Nina
Antonia San Juan
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Agrado
Penélope Cruz
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Hermana Rosa
Rosa Maria Sardà
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Madre de Rosa
(as Rosa María Sardá)
Fernando Fernán Gómez
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Padre de Rosa
Toni Cantó
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Lola
Eloy Azorín
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Esteban
Carlos Lozano
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Mario
Fernando Guillén
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Doctor en 'Un tranvía llamado Deseo'
Manuel Morón
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Doctor 1
José Luis Torrijo
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Doctor 2
Juan José Otegui
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Ginecólogo
Carmen Balagué
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Taglines:
Part of every woman is a mother/actress/saint/sinner. And part of every man is a woman. (English trailer)
Opening Weekend: £99,533
(UK)
(29 August 1999)
(22 Screens)
Gross: $8,264,530
(USA)
(9 July 2000)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Agrado's monologue was based on a real life event. When the electronic system of an Argentinian theater failed, the director suspended the show. Actress Lola Membrives decided to give the news to the audience and make them an offer: if they'd stay, they could listen to the narration of her life.
Quotes: Huma Rojo:
But can you act? Manuela:
I can lie very well, and I'm used to improvising.
User Review
A VERY PRIVATE UNIVERSE
Rating: 8/10
Very few directors, since Bunuel, Fassbinder, Lindsay Anderson and Roman
Polanski, have been able to translate their own, very private universes, to
the screen.
That is why, it divides audiences in such a radical way.
You love it or you hate it.
I think, that is the final objective of an artist, to express their view, to
give us their own version of the world we live in. It enriches us, it makes
us more aware of the million faces of human nature.
Thanks to Almodovar we're allowed to feel identified with, what we may
consider, marginal characters.
What a different experience is to sit through an Almodovar film and a Ron
Howard film for instance.
Almodovar remains, becomes part of us, Ron Howard's vanishes as we're
leaving the movie theater.
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