Live Flesh (1997)
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Synopsis: A shooting in the Madrid apartment of Elena (Francesca Neri), an Italian dope addict, leaves policeman David (Javier Bardem) a paraplegic and Victor (Liberto Rabal), her would-be date, in prison. Years later, Victor gets out of jail but is obsessed with Elena, now clean, sober, and married... A shooting in the Madrid apartment of Elena (Francesca Neri), an Italian dope addict, leaves policeman David (Javier Bardem) a paraplegic and Victor (Liberto Rabal), her would-be date, in prison. Years later, Victor gets out of jail but is obsessed with Elena, now clean, sober, and married to David, who has transcended his handicap by becoming a wheelchair basketball champion. The brooding, resentful Victor starts sleeping with their friend Clara (Ángela Molina), the sexually restless wife of David's jealous, alcoholic former cop partner, and finds out some harsh truths about what really happened that fateful night. Eventually love, desire, obsession, and betrayal all whirlwind into confrontations both deadly and intensely sexual. Based on the novel by Ruth Rendell, this colorful, vibrant film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar overflows with rich, sensual performances and beauty captured by graceful camerawork, enhanced by a sizzling musical score by Alberto Iglesias. Penélope Cruz appears as Victor's mother, a prostitute who gives birth to him on a bus in the film's brilliant opening. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, Ángela Molina, José Sancho
Story: Ruth Rendell
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Producer: Agustin Almodovar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
DVD Info
Release:
Apr 10, 2001
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - Spanish
Additional Release Material:
- Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
The film also feels curiously underpopulated, unenlivened by any sparky character bits.
Very much an Almodovar picture with most of the anticipated outrageous occurrences intact.
Witness the increasing promise of Pedro Almodóvar, in a film that has gone largely unnoticed in his career but stands as a worthy and mostly mainstream entry into his unique style of twisted relationship movies.
The film lacks the anarchic weirdness of some of his best, and without the camp elements it becomes obvious just how like a telenovela the goings-on are.
The overall purpose of Live Flesh, the latest and reputedly most 'mature' work from Spanish bad-boy director Pedro Almodovar, remains engigmatic.
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