Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lluís Homar, Javier Cámara
Genre: Drama
Studio: Columbia Tristar Hom   Release date: 2004   Rated: R
Language (Country): English, ( Spain )
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Summary: This exceptional film is entirely unique in its intensity and depth, but not how I expected. The priestly molestation is rather matter-of-fact, and not dramatized to the extreme as so many movies have done of late. The sex & nudity is very carefully placed, not at all gratuitous (unfortunately-more would have been welcomed albeit unnecessary for the story). In fact I can not tell why this version is NC-17, have Americans really become That Victorian?

Much has been written about the story, what I didn't know prior to viewing was the intensity of plot twists and turns. I won't spoil any secrets here, but suffice it to say that it isn't even the secrets that are so intense, it is the masterful way in which things are revealed. This is really a film about sex as power, and all of the power plays which don't make anyone happy.

Almodovar's direction and cinematography are stunning, erotic, and intensley emotional. He tells so much of the story visually without dialogue. What a treat.

The film ends on a realistic note. There are no firey car crashes, no earth-shattering explosions, no full-frontal nudity, none of the usual supects, but this film sneaks up on you, shakes you to your being, and as you are drawn in by the sensuality and drama, the film demonstrates that life isn't fair, kind, or even very pretty sometimes.