Arguably Almodóvar’s masterpiece, this Best Foreign Language Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winner, which also deservedly won the Best Director Prize at Cannes, is a moving and visually resplendent portrait of family, grief, forgiveness and the power of drama. When her teenage son Esteban is killed in a car crash, grieving middle-aged nurse Manuela (Cecilia Roth) heads to Barcelona in search of the boy's father, whom Esteban had never met. While searching the city for her former lover, Manuela reluctantly becomes the hub of a makeshift matriarchal community that includes a pregnant nun (Penélope Cruz), a trans hustler (Antonia San Juan), and the glamorous actress (Marisa Paredes) whom her son idolised. Channelling the spirit of Tennessee Williams, John Cassavetes classic ‘Opening Night’ (1977) – with lead actor Cecilia Roth giving as towering a performance as Gena Rowlands does in that film – and with more than a nod to All About Eve (1950), Almodóvar’s richly saturated images are matched by the sophistication of his narrative and an ensemble cast that help make this one of the best dramas of the last few decades.