Winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and BAFTA, as well as five European Film Awards, this visually dazzling portrait of obsession is one of Pedro Almodóvar’s most admired films.
Male nurse Benigno (Javier Cámara) is fascinated with dancer Alicia (Leonor Watling), whom he watches from the privacy of his apartment. Seriously injured in a car accident, a comatose Alicia arrives at the hospital where Benigno works and who is charged with looking after her. His growing obsession, teetering on the taboo, is matched by that of writer Marco (Darío Grandinetti) for wounded bullfighter Lydia (Rosario Flores) who is brought into the same ward. The men soon find a common ground in their compulsive behaviour, which threatens to consume them. Almodóvar’s dark tale, echoing the subversiveness of his early films, features outrageous fantasy sequences and a filmmaker at the height of their powers.
★★★★★ "Sad and beautiful, sly and funny, clever and controversial." - Alan Morrison, Empire
15
114 minutes
2002
Drama
Spain
Spanish
English
Pathé