Broken Embraces ★★★★

Broken Embraces contains all of the things a Pedro Almodóvar film should have – death, sex, the color red, betrayals, doomed romances, double-crossing, blackmail. His films are not mainstream (at least not in America), but they are influenced by mainstream cinema, specifically Hitchcock. To watch an Almodóvar film is to be transported into a purely cinematic world, where even a simple conversation over breakfast utterly captivates our attention. The Spanish filmmaker is obsessed with seeing, with perception, with point of view. And every shot counts.

His new film jumps around in time, telling the story of filmmaker Mateo Blanco (Lluîs Homar), who, in present day, goes by the pseudonym Harry Caine, the name he used to put on the title page of his screenplays. Harry Caine is blind, and is, in fact, a working screenwriter. But is Mateo really blind, or is it just an act? When he receives word of the death of businessman Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), his expression tells us there is a history there. A photograph of actress Lena (Penelope Cruz) is kept locked in a drawer in Meteo’s office. Through flashback, we learn that she was once Ernesto Martel’s secretary. Pieces of a puzzle that will all make sense in time.

Like Peeping Tom or 8 1/2, Broken Embraces is, ultimately, about a filmmaker’s view of the world – Mateo’s and, of course, Almodóvar’s. This is a film about perception, and how the camera lies, or tells the truth, depending on who is operating it. In the opening voice-over, Mateo explains that a time came when he could no longer be Mateo Blanco; he could only be his new alter ego, Harry Caine. This is followed by a scene in which he seduces a young woman in his apartment. From this, we assume that Mateo’s alternate identity is an escape, an elaborate exercise in role-playing. By the end of the film, we realize that we were right, and yet we couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Advertisement