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After her son is killed in an accident, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) leaves Madrid for her old haunts in Barcelona. She reconnects with an old friend, a pre-op transsexual prostitute named La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), who introduces her to Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who turns out to be pregnant. Meanwhile, Manuela becomes a personal assistant for Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), an actress currently playing Blanche DuBois in a production of
A Streetcar Named Desire.
All About My Mother traces the delicate web of friendship and loss that binds these women together. The movie is dedicated to the actresses of the world, so it's not surprising that all the performances are superb. Roth in particular anchors
All About My Mother with compassion and generosity. But fans of writer-director Pedro Almodóvar needn't fret--as always, Almodóvar's work undermines conventional notions of sexual identity and embraces all human possibilities with bright colors and melodramatic plotting. However,
All About My Mother approaches its twists and turns with a broader emotional scope than most of Almodóvar's work; even the more extravagant aspects of the story are presented quietly, to allow the sadness of life to be as present as the irrepressible vitality of the characters. Almodóvar embraces pettiness, jealousy, and grief as much as kindness, courage, and outrageousness, and the movie is the richer for it.
--Bret Fetzer
Review
Putting his distinctive spin on the women's picture, renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodvar affectionately salutes the female spirit and alternative families in All About My Mother. Combining serious melodrama with Almodvar's signature flair for splashy color and flamboyant, theatrical characters, Manuela's journey to Barcelona to find her dead son's father and assuage her grief balances humor, pathos, and profound insight into love of all kinds -- especially maternal. The unexpected fortitude and empathy she discovers, with the help of a transsexual, a stage diva, and a pregnant nun, turn All About My Mother into a joyful portrait of feminine complexity (complete with La Agrado's hilariously candid monologue about what it took to make her a "real" woman). Among the outstanding cast of actresses in a film dedicated to actresses, Cecilia Roth glows as Manuela, revealing the depths of pain in her face even as she carves out a new life. Marisa Paredes manages to be both imperious and touchingly vulnerable as theater star Huma. Hailed as Almodvar's most mature and heartfelt work, All About My Mother earned the Best Director prize at Cannes, numerous critics' awards, and a richly deserved Oscar for Best Foreign Film. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
