A weepie movie with a brainy sensibility, an open heart, and a wicked sense of humor.
All About My Mother (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:79
Fresh:77
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Almodovar weaves together a magnificent tapestry of femininity with an affectionate wink to classics of theater and cinema in this poignant story of love, loss and compassion.
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Cecilia Roth stars in this celebrated film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. Distraught over the death of her teenage son, Manuela drives to Barcelona to find the boy's father, an itinerant... Cecilia Roth stars in this celebrated film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. Distraught over the death of her teenage son, Manuela drives to Barcelona to find the boy's father, an itinerant transsexual named Lola (Toni Canto). While combing the city's less reputable districts, she also meets up with Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a sassy transvestite prostitute, and Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a pregnant nun on her way to El Salvador. She also becomes the manager for Huma (Marisa Paredes), the actress her son idolized, and helps her through a run of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Together these great ladies bond through various heartrending crises, enduring the pain and celebrating the beauty of being women (or almost women). Considered to be one of Almodóvar's most fully realized works, this charming and unique film blends his earlier gender-bending irreverence with the mature grace and compassion of his later work, striking a perfect note of humor and pathos. [More]
Starring: Celia Roth, Marisa Parades, Penélope Cruz, Candela Peña
Starring: Celia Roth, Marisa Parades, Penélope Cruz, Candela Peña, Eloy Azorin, Antonia San Juan, Rosa María Sardà, Toni Cantó
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Producer: Agustin Almodovar
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
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Reviews for All About My Mother
It displays a depth and maturity lacking in Almodóvar's earlier work.
Almodóvar's talent has always been acknowledged as unique, but All about My Mother demonstrates how great it is as well.
It's filled with marvelous performances, fabulous wit, and some dizzying images.
Offers far more than a thesis about repressed desire; it evokes and engages such desire, seeking its release.
By the time I'd left the theater, I was in love and wanted to see it again.
A salute to the enormous fierceness, resolve, and strength it takes to be a nurturing person.
Hits a number of the right emotional buttons, due in large part to Roth's extraordinary performance.
One of the best films of the Spanish director, whose films present a Tennessee Williams sensibility in the visual style of a 1950s Universal-International tearjerker.
A sophisticated meta-melodrama featuring some of his most complex and compassionate characters -- not so over-the-top campy as much of his previous work, yet as politically and sexually adventurous in its own shrewd ways.
The filmmaker peppers the movie with stylistic references to the women-loving films of directors George Cukor and Douglas Sirk and pays tribute to Williams' greatest character, the tragic Blanche Dubois of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Manuela's search for Esteban's father, 'Lola,' becomes mostly representative of the masculine figure as a force that fades or dies, and of the liberating effects of the solidarity between the women.
Latest News for All About My Mother
April 05, 2006:
New "Volver" Pics: Muy Caliente!
Pedro Almodovar has teamed up again with Spanish starlet Penelope Cruz in this fall's "Volver," and we've got 38 new pics to peruse, here! More...
February 08, 2005:
Cruz and Almodovar Collaborate Again
More...
November 24, 2004:
Bad Education Still NC-17
More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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