August 30, 2009
Broken Embraces is the latest offering from director and screenplay writer Pedro Almodovar – it is a seductive tale of love and loss, with our hero being a middle-aged blind writer called Harry Caine. Harry receives an unwelcome visit from a supposed upcoming director who is not who he seems, which causes Harry to have flashbacks to his previous life. Here, we learn about the making of his film Girls and Suitcases, in which he casts the beautiful Lena (Penelope Cruz), mistress of tycoon Ernesto Martel. Martel bankrolls the movie and instructs his son to film a documentary which he reviews each day so he can keep tabs on the relationship between Lena and Harry. When they are found out, they run away to Lanzarote but their trip is ill-fated, and the loose ends of their fate and film can only be tied up when we return to the present day.
Overall, the film makes sense and comes together nicely (I said nicely, remember, not happily!) at the end – however, there were several revelations in the story which were not then developed, which questions why they were there at all…for example, Lena’s early scene where she is forced into prostitution and realises it is her boss Martel on the phone… Diego finding out late on who his father is… Harry having sex with a young woman who has just helped him across the road… these were dealt with as if they were just scene fillers but they should either have been developed, or left out. Also, Lena’s lacklustre reaction to being thrown down the stairs by Martel (she doesn’t seem scared of him, he is not apologetic) did not seem emotionally realistic. Some of the latter scenes had a disjointed air as if Almodovar was so determined to tie up all the loose ends of the story that the flow was somewhat lost and it went on a little too long.
However, make no mistake: this is an intelligent, beautifully interwoven tale of past love and loss and the burdens we carry from them. Almodovar’s casting of Cruz as Lena is of course no surprise – (those who don’t know of their mentor-muse history, google it), but as Lena, Cruz has never been more beautiful and charismatic, she lights up the screen with her passion and enthusiasm and is a joy to watch. Although the film is about Harry Caine and how his previous life made him the man he is today, it is Cruz as Lena who brings the screen to life and makes sense of the how the making of one film caused so much passion and destruction in so many lives.
Overall, the film makes sense and comes together nicely (I said nicely, remember, not happily!) at the end – however, there were several revelations in the story which were not then developed, which questions why they were there at all…for example, Lena’s early scene where she is forced into prostitution and realises it is her boss Martel on the phone… Diego finding out late on who his father is… Harry having sex with a young woman who has just helped him across the road… these were dealt with as if they were just scene fillers but they should either have been developed, or left out. Also, Lena’s lacklustre reaction to being thrown down the stairs by Martel (she doesn’t seem scared of him, he is not apologetic) did not seem emotionally realistic. Some of the latter scenes had a disjointed air as if Almodovar was so determined to tie up all the loose ends of the story that the flow was somewhat lost and it went on a little too long.
However, make no mistake: this is an intelligent, beautifully interwoven tale of past love and loss and the burdens we carry from them. Almodovar’s casting of Cruz as Lena is of course no surprise – (those who don’t know of their mentor-muse history, google it), but as Lena, Cruz has never been more beautiful and charismatic, she lights up the screen with her passion and enthusiasm and is a joy to watch. Although the film is about Harry Caine and how his previous life made him the man he is today, it is Cruz as Lena who brings the screen to life and makes sense of the how the making of one film caused so much passion and destruction in so many lives.