The Critical Condition’s Casey Cole is surprised by her response to Broken Embraces, the new film from Pedro Almodóvar. Find out why…

By CASEY COLE

For better or worse, I usually don’t enjoy a movie without a nice, linear narrative. I love structure, even if it’s relentlessly intricate and I don’t figure it out for hours or days after viewing (Memento comes to mind). I also love neat, crisp endings tied up with little bows.

Also, if a movie smacks of a director’s vanity, or is clearly about the axe a director wants to grind, then I’m not interested.

Given these criteria, I should have hated Pedro Almodóvar’s new film Broken Embraces. It tells the story of a blind screenwriter and director named Harry Caine (Lluís Homar). Through a series of flashbacks, we find out how he came to gain his reputation and lose both his sight and his lover, Lena (Penélope Cruz). Both a love story and a movie about movies, the parallels between Harry and Almodóvar are obvious. In plot and in visual construction, Broken Embraces is full of film references. Almodóvar lifts from so many movies (everything from Hitchcock’s Rebecca to his own Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) that certain scenes border on parody. It’s as if Almodóvar compiled a list of all of his favorite movie moments, recreated them, and then strung them together in some semblance of a narrative.

There is also something combative about Broken Embraces. Almodóvar seems to have made a movie for himself (or for his friends, many of whom are actors in the film), and clearly doesn’t care about the audience’s approval. He seems to say, “My love for my friends and for movies deserves to be expressed. Critics will find many flaws, and I couldn’t care less.” There is even a visual representation of this statement, when Harry and Lena find a newspaper containing a terrible review of their new film. Harry crumples it up and throws it in the air. We see an extended shot of the wind carrying the paper away, garbage rolling along the beach.

Much to my surprise, this untidy, antagonistic movie is thoroughly enjoyable to watch. It’s filled with love and humanity, and it’s an absolute pleasure to behold. The word that kept popping into my head when watching it was “joy”. As is often the case with Almodóvar’s films, Broken Embraces is exquisitely designed, shot and edited. The use of color is gorgeous—nearly every frame pops with hues you didn’t even know existed. The outdoor shots made me want to get on a plane to Madrid ASAP. Wonderful camera tricks abound, with scenes reflected in mirrors, surfaces, even a mahogany closet door.

But the fantastic performances really make the film work. Penélope Cruz is lovely as a woman with many faces and personalities. She and Almodóvar have a close and long-standing relationship, and it shows: She is vulnerable, committed, and creative in her performance in Broken Embraces, in a way that I have not seen her in other films.

But the star of this picture is Blanca Portillo, as Harry’s set designer and caretaker Judit. Portillo’s performance is stunning, so full of compassion and humor that it makes you want to jump in the screen, give her a hug and buy her a gin and tonic.

Almodóvar has achieved an unlikely and impressive accomplishment here. He has made a film that is narcissistic and messy, yet he’s infused it with such humor and joy that it’s compelling from start to finish. I’m not sure that another director could have pulled this off. I can’t think of another with the effervescence to make a vanity project seem important. Almodóvar can tell me to go to hell anytime he wants. I’ll buy a ticket for the privilege.