Highly Overrated But Still Good

good back-story, and good acting

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

No one makes films quite like Pedro Almodóvar. In an age where melodrama has been designated as a genre for trashy, low-brow entertainment, he wades through the rubbish pile and gives us All About My Mother, a seminal piece on navigating sexual and political identity in the modern age. The film marks a significant milestone in his provocative career. In his youth, his work reflected the turbulent Spanish contexts and societal upheavals he lived through, characterised by a stylistic luridness, of camp and eyeliner, of flashy kitsch and outrageous characters. Tina in Law of Desire is a deeply melodramatic figure, but she is also aware of her nature, and gives knowing winks to the audience. Almodóvar's parody had distanced him from sincerity, but then came along Manuela, who is living in a melodrama, and yet the story compels our empathy, and the surprise of encountering this feeling. Manuela thinks she has escaped from her past, but with the inevitability of the coming tide, it rushes towards her and beckons a decision. A rainy night and an unsuspecting driver sends her son and the camera careening, and she is posed the same question that she performed for us in the opening: Will you give your loved one's organs up for donation? This is not just Almodóvar's playfulness at work, but the genre crying out: self-reflexivity, mirrored realities, a dramatic collision of past and present. Witness the slow motion of her anguish, and the mournful strings as she signs away her son's body. What would the back cover say? A part of her is missing, and this is her journey to reclaim herself. The style is arresting, and provocatively draws attention to itself - Almodóvar has gained sincerity but lost none of his theatrical edge. The stage background is drenched in a melancholic blue, and the lead actress wears gold, but listen to the recital of Stanley Kowalski's famous line. It's barely a whimper, and Stella is already too far away to be seduced. The character, more animal than man, as Marlon Brando showed us, is reduced to pathetic stage dressing. The father, who also occupied the role, is now called Lola, and Rosa's father, a blank slate. The world is Manuela's stage, as Almodóvar indicates, punctuating the frame with red hair, lips, costumes, pushing his actors through zany mise en scène (her new apartment is a kaleidoscopic museum), weaving Tennessee Williams' lines into the dialogue of the everyday. She must perform constantly, keeping her grief at bay, feigning a more capable identity, and helping others claim theirs (she is Rosa's sister, because it presents a better look). Centre stage, ironically, is the only place where she can afford to take off her mask, a safe space from judgement and stigmatisation. Stella, and therefore Manuela, is allowed to weep openly, and the moment is emotionally cathartic (she even sports a fake belly!). Theatre is more real than reality, and it is Manuela's escape route from the harshness of life's dealt hand, but also a way of engaging with her grief. The stoic facade is discarded, and the tears flow so freely. And what are the men of the cast doing? They are being coached on their emotional projection: "The sadness should go into your hands. You have to work it," instructs the director. This gloss is reminiscent of none other than the king of melodrama, Douglas Sirk. His work in the 50s were the romance novels of today (just look at their posters), adorned with roses, white picket fences, sweeping romance narratives, and lush Technicolor. But what the sheen concealed was an attack on classism, and the conformist ideologies of Eisenhower's suburbia. Today, seeing Jane Wyman's face imprisoned by the frame of the television, it seems obvious. Todd Haynes would try his hand at melodrama, updating Sirk's style with a modern exploration of homophobia. But while Far from Heaven is merely a renovated period piece, bursting at the seams with weepy and strained acting, All About My Mother cuts through it all. Almodóvar isn't just subtly pushing critique through irony, he's dropping glittery bombshells and eradicating sexual conformity, gender taboos and traditional values. And alongside Manuela's lifelong journey, he is shattering and reconstructing the nuclear family paradigm with his own zany personalities. Agrado is the film's main source of warmth, but more vitally, humour. While the music is pulsating and tensions are at bursting point, she sashays in and disarms the scene with a witty remark and a healthy dose of self-depreciation. Almost overnight she has eased the doubts of Huma Rojo, two years on becoming her most trusted companion and confidant. And in the film's most liberating scene, she struts out under the spotlights after (melo)drama backstage cancels the night's performance. But what an opportunity the plot presents her with! She has been living on the fringes of society, shunned but for a select clientele, yet here she is on centre stage. She rattles off the prices of her plastic surgeries, so numerous that she resembles Theseus' ship, no longer made of the original model's pieces. Yet she is stronger and more confident than ever, so utterly sure of her role in life, and radiating authenticity in spite of the work done on her body. This is beauty and femininity and warmth all wrapped into one, not as a physical ideal, but as an fluid identity. And what Agrado has helped reshape Manuela into is so much more than just a mother.

After her 17 year old son is killed in a truly heart-string shattering moment, Manuela goes to Barcelona to find the father of her son but but soon gets wrapped up in further drama. All About My Mother, with its meticulously constructed thematic material, unique visuals and focus on women, is typical Pedro Almodovar material. AAMM is not an easy watch and at times really feels like an emotional gauntlet. For me, this felt more familiar than both Talk to Her and The Skin I Live in and this can be a bit slow at times. Unlike the other 2 Almodovar films I've seen this one's thematic purpose isn't always clear. This is often regarded as Almodovar's masterpiece and although I disagree with that, it certainly is a hugely striking film. It's a meticulously crafted and emotionally powerful piece of art with complex themes and complex characters at every turn, backed up with superb acting and a masterful auteur at the top of his game. It is perhaps a flawed masterpiece. It's got its problems, but it's a movie which nearly made me cry twice and a very intelligent piece of writing. This kind of film is what drama should be. 8/10

I was so close to thinking that Manuela and Lola were back together after finding each other and learning that their son was killed! However, unfortunately in this sad film, everyone is nearly dropping like flies around Manuela. I was so surprised to have seen Penelope Cruz on this, I have never heard her speak Spanish before so this is the first time I've experienced her speaking Spanish on an actual film! I think if this film was more concentrating on the other characters rather than Manuela and Lola is nothing. That's why I gave this a 7 instead of a 10. It needs kinda a facelift because the story was kinda all over the shop tbh..............

All About My Mother is without a doubt Pedro Almodóvar's Citizen Kane. Talk to Her is incredible, but doesn't even begin to touch the sheer brilliance of the acting, writing, and emotional intensity that All About My Mother has. It was internationally, critically, and commercially appreciated and arguably the greatest film of 1999.Everything about the film is so exemplary that pointing out the film's strengths seems rather redundant. The film features all its stars at their best, their zeniths. The film was so phenomenal that I wouldn't have been surprised if Almodóvar retired after completing it. Thankfully, though, he didn't and has continued making top quality films with the same heart he had making All About My Mother.