Broken Embraces Review

The latest homage by Spain's greatest-living auteur to his favourite latter-day leading lady, the movies and, well, himself, starts with through-the-viewfinder, grainy shots of Penélope Cruz and co-star Lluis Homar on a film set preparing for a scene. In the press notes, Almodóvar reveals that this is genuine rehearsal footage, with neither actor aware they were being filmed. If you find this a creepy violation of the artistic process, then Broken Embraces is not for you. But if you get a secret thrill from a director mining his own relationships and work in pursuit of another immaculately upholstered melodrama, then brace yourself for another of the maestro's vice-like, taffeta-soft clinches.

The web of relationships this time out, straddling two timelines - the mid-1990s and late noughties - involves, in no particular order: writer-director Mateo (Lluís Homar), in earlier times a high-flying, libidinous filmmaker, then latterly a blind recluse who takes the name Harry Caine; his agent Judit (Blanca Portillo) an acid-tongued single mother (warning!) and her son/Harry's assistant Diego (Tamar Novas); millionaire tycoon Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gomez); and his PA-turned-mistress Lena (Cruz), who yearns to be an actress and gets a role in Mateo's latest comedy, bankrolled by her lover. Martel also insists that his semi-estranged, closeted son Ernesto Jr (Ochandiano) hang out on the film set, documenting everything for an ultra-personal 'Making Of.' Naturally he captures the growing attraction between Mateo and Lena, unleashing passion, violence and ultimately tragedy.

This doesn't begin to encompass even half of the twists and turns in Almodóvar's labyrinthine story, which seems to plough into major emotional signposts - Betrayal! Grief! Revenge! - like a drunk driver nailing traffic cones. It's meaty, heady stuff, which, constantly probing the duality of filmmaking and behind-the-scenes shooting, turns into less a hall of mirrors than one giant mirror-ball, dazzling, reflecting and fragmenting Almodóvar's usual flamboyant predilections.