Middling effort by this director whose films have rarely reached me. Most of his early work was asinine (excepting What Have I Done to Deserve This?) culminating in the truly execrable Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down. He does have a visual flash but until recently I've not been able to understand the acclaim he's gotten from critics.
He got my attention with Volver and nailed it with Talk to Her. Both were quirky, original and not overburdened with gaudy splashes of color.
This one falls a bit short of those two for me. Although several characters are truly transgressive (a pregnant nun, two transvestites) they are treated so matter-of-factly that the film became a garden variety melodrama. It all seemed to take place in another reality, perhaps one wished for by Almodovar himself. It was a little like watching a fairy tale. For me it was unengaging, but not bad either.
5
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