Broken Embraces

Made for cinephiles by an ardent cinephile, Pedro Almodovar’s latest love letter references Hitchcock, Sirk, Rossellini, Powell, Malle, and not least, himself. And that’s just at first glance. I compare it most to Truffaut’s Day for Night, in its passion for filmmaking. So I liked Broken Embraces, and I reveled with Almodovar in his mastery of movie magic, without ever being gripped by the characters or story – it’s good-looking and clever rather than moving and meaningful, which he is also capable of being at times. His usual muse, Penelope Cruz, also gets to channel other actresses, from Audrey Hepburn to Marilyn Monroe. The mutability of personae pervades the exercise, with every character going under multiple names and identities, in different timeframes. In essence, a blind screenwriter flashes back to the days when he was a sighted director in love with his leading lady, making a film very much like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (which I happened to see again quite recently). This film is more self-reflexive than consequential, but seems masterful in every frame, a bravura performance perhaps a shade too in love with itself. (2009, dvd.) *7* (MC-76.)