| All About My Mother | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byOscar Mariné | |
| Spanish | Todo sobre mi madre |
| Directed by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Written by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Produced by | Agustín Almodóvar |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Affonso Beato |
| Edited by | José Salcedo |
| Music by | Alberto Iglesias |
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| Budget | P600 million ($4,989,091) |
| Box office | $68 million[2] |
All About My Mother (Spanish:Todo sobre mi madre) is a 1999comedy-drama film written and directed byPedro Almodóvar, and starringCecilia Roth,Marisa Paredes,Candela Peña,Antonia San Juan,Penélope Cruz,Rosa Maria Sardà, andFernando Fernán Gómez.
The plot originates in Almodóvar's earlier filmThe Flower of My Secret (1995), which shows student doctors being trained in how to persuade grieving relatives to allow organs to be used fortransplant, focusing on the mother of a teenager killed in a road accident.All About My Mother deals with issues such asAIDS,gender identity,homosexuality,faith, andexistentialism.
The film was a commercial and critical success both in Spain, where it received 14Goya Award nominations,[3] winning seven - includingBest Film,Best Director andBest Actress for Roth; and internationally,[4] winning theAcademy Award forBest Foreign Language Film in addition to theGolden Globe forBest Foreign Language Film and twoBAFTA Awards forBest Film Not in the English Language andBest Direction, as well asBest Director at the52nd Cannes Film Festival.[5]
Manuela is anArgentine nurse who supervises donororgan transplants at Ramón y Cajal Hospital inMadrid. She is also a single mother to Esteban, a teenager who aspires to become a writer.
On the night of Esteban's 17th birthday, he is hit and killed by a car while chasing after his favorite actress, Huma Rojo, for her autograph following a performance ofA Streetcar Named Desire, where Huma portraysBlanche DuBois. Manuela allows her son's heart to be transplanted to a man inA Coruña. After tracking down the recipient, she resigns from her job and travels toBarcelona in search of Esteban's other mother, Lola, atransgender woman whom Manuela had kept secret from her son, just as she had never told Lola about the boy.
In Barcelona, Manuela reunites with her old friend Agrado, a warm and wittytransgender sex worker. She also befriends Huma as well as her co-star and lover Nina Cruz, who is a heroin addict, and youngHIV-positive nun Rosa, who works in a shelter for battered sex workers and is pregnant with Lola's child. Manuela's life becomes entwined with theirs as she cares for Rosa during her pregnancy, works as Huma's personal assistant, and takes the stage as anunderstudy for Nina during one of her drug abuse crises.
On her way to the hospital, Rosa asks the taxi to stop at a park where she spots her father's dog, Sapic, and then her own father, who suffers fromAlzheimer's. He does not recognize Rosa and asks for her age and height, but Sapic recognizes her. Rosa dies giving birth to a healthy boy; at her funeral, Manuela finally reunites with Lola. Lola (formerly known as Esteban) is dying fromAIDS and talks about how she always wanted a son. Manuela tells her about their own son Esteban and his fatal accident. Manuela adopts Rosa's son, Esteban, caring for him at Rosa's parents' house. The father does not understand who Manuela is, and Rosa's mother introduces her as the new cook who is living there with her son.
Manuela introduces Esteban, Rosa's son, to Lola and gives her a picture of their own Esteban. Rosa's mother spots them from the street and confronts Manuela about letting strangers see the baby. Manuela tells her that Lola is Esteban's other parent, but Rosa's mother is appalled and blames Lola for causing Rosa's death, and fears that she will contract HIV from the baby. Deciding that she cannot live at Rosa's house any longer, Manuela flees back to Madrid with Esteban, and writes a letter to Huma and Agrado, apologizing once again for not saying goodbye like she did years before.
Two years later, Manuela returns to Barcelona with Esteban, who has remained healthy and AIDS-free. At an AIDS convention, she meets up with Huma and Agrado, who now run a stage show together, and tells them that she is returning to stay with Esteban's grandparents. When Manuela asks about Nina, Agrado reveals that Nina broke up with Huma, returned to her town, got married, and now has a son of her own.
Almodóvar dedicated his film "To all actresses who have played actresses. To all women who act. To men who act and become women. To all the people who want to be mothers. To my mother".
Almodóvar recreated the accident scene fromJohn Cassavetes'Opening Night (1977) as the epicenter of the dramatic conflict.[6]
The film was mainly shot on location inBarcelona.
The soundtrack includes "Gorrión" and "Coral para mi pequeño y lejano pueblo", written byDino Saluzzi and performed by Saluzzi,Marc Johnson, and José Saluzzi, and "Tajabone", written and performed byIsmaël Lô.[7]
The poster of the film was designed by Madrid illustrator Óscar Mariné. This poster was designed to epitomize the very image of beauty, simplicity, and femininity. The poster intentionally emphasizes red, white, and blue with black accent strokes and a pop of yellow.[8]
Thefilm premiered in Spain on 8 April 1999 and went into general theatrical release on 16 April. It was shown at theCannes Film Festival, theKarlovy Vary Film Festival, the Auckland Film Festival, theAustin Film Festival, theThessaloniki International Film Festival, and theNew York Film Festival before going intolimited release in the United States. It eventually grossed €9,962,047 in Spain ($12,595,016), $8,344,738 in the US, and $59,609,091 in foreign markets for a worldwide box office total of $67,957,990.[2]
Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times called it Almodóvar's "best film by far", noting he "presents this womanlymelodrama with an empathy to recallGeorge Cukor's and an eye-dampening intensity to out-SirkDouglas Sirk". She added, "It's the crossover moment in the career of a born four-hankie storyteller of ever-increasing stature. Look out, Hollywood, here he comes".[9]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times observed, "You don't know where to position yourself while you're watching a film likeAll About My Mother, and that's part of the appeal: Do you take it seriously, like the characters do, or do you notice the bright colors and flashy art decoration, the cheerful homages toTennessee Williams andAll About Eve, and see it as aparody? . . . Almodóvar's earlier films sometimes seemed to be manipulating the characters as an exercise. Here the plot does handstands in its eagerness to use coincidence, surprise, and melodrama. But the characters have a weight and reality, as if Almodóvar has finally taken pity on them – has seen that although their plights may seem ludicrous, they are real enough to hurt".[10]
Bob Graham of theSan Francisco Chronicle said, "No one else makes movies like this Spanish director" and added, "In other hands, these characters might be candidates for confessions – and brawls – onThe Jerry Springer Show, but here they are handled with utmost sympathy. None of these goings-on is presented as sordid or seedy. The presentation is as bright, glossy, and seductive as a fashion magazine . . . The tone ofAll About My Mother has the heart-on-the-sleeve emotions of soap opera, but it is completely sincere and by no meanscamp".[11]
Wesley Morris of theSan Francisco Examiner called the film "a romantically labyrinthine tribute that piles layers of inter-textual shout-outs toAll About Eve, Tennessee Williams,Truman Capote,Federico García Lorca andAlfred Hitchcock, and beautifully assesses the nature of facades . . . Almodóvar imbues hisHarlequin-novel-meets-Marvel-comic-book melodramas with something more than a wink and a smile, and it is beguiling. His expressionism and his screenwriting have always had fun together, but now there is a kind of faith and spirituality that sexcapades likeLaw of Desire andKika only laughed at... it contains a host of superlative firsts: a handful of the only truly moving scenes he has filmed, the most gorgeous dialogue he has composed, his most dimensional performances of his most dimensional characters and perhaps his most dynamic photography and elaborate production design".[12]
Jonathan Holland ofVariety called the film "emotionally satisfying and brilliantly played" and commented, "The emotional tone is predominantly dark and confrontational . . . But thanks to a sweetly paced and genuinely witty script, pic doesn't become depressing as it focuses on the characters' stoic resilience and good humor".[13]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 98% of 97 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "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."[14]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[15] In 2018 the film was ranked 32nd in BBC's list of The 100 greatest foreign language films.[16]British Film Institute ranked the film at No. 69 on its list of "90 great films of 1990s".[17]
A stage adaptation of the film by playwrightSamuel Adamson received its world première at theOld Vic in London's West End on 4 September 2007. This production marked the first English language adaptation of any of Almodóvar's works and had his support and approval.[19] Music by the film's composer,Alberto Iglesias, was incorporated into the stage production, with additional music by Max and Ben Ringham. It starredColin Morgan,Diana Rigg,Lesley Manville,Mark Gatiss,Joanne Froggatt, and Charlotte Randle. It opened to generally good reviews, with some critics stating it improved upon the film.[20][21]
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