Product Description

A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by happenstance becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy. With echoes of Lorca, All About Eve, and A Streetcar Named Desire, the mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6435 in DVD
• Brand: Son
• Released on: 2009-11-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.20 pounds
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
After her son is killed in an accident, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) leaves Madrid for her old haunts in Barcelona. She reconnects with an old friend, a pre-op transsexual prostitute named La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), who introduces her to Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who turns out to be pregnant. Meanwhile, Manuela becomes a personal assistant for Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), an actress currently playing Blanche DuBois in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire. All About My Mother traces the delicate web of friendship and loss that binds these women together. The movie is dedicated to the actresses of the world, so it's not surprising that all the performances are superb. Roth in particular anchors All About My Mother with compassion and generosity. But fans of writer-director Pedro Almodóvar needn't fret--as always, Almodóvar's work undermines conventional notions of sexual identity and embraces all human possibilities with bright colors and melodramatic plotting. However, All About My Mother approaches its twists and turns with a broader emotional scope than most of Almodóvar's work; even the more extravagant aspects of the story are presented quietly, to allow the sadness of life to be as present as the irrepressible vitality of the characters. Almodóvar embraces pettiness, jealousy, and grief as much as kindness, courage, and outrageousness, and the movie is the richer for it. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Visual, Moving Masterpiece
"Todo Sobre Mi Madre," or "All About My Mother," revolves around the life of an organ transplant coordinator, Manuela, who was briefly shown in one of Almodovar's most recent movie "The Flower of My Secret". After the death of her only child, Manuela sets off from Madrid to Barcelona to find both his father and the traveling troupe who performs "A Streetcar Named Desire," throughout Spain.

Argentinian actress Cecilia Roth is both excellent and convincing as Manuela. Her performance for an actress not from Spain is original, since most of Almodovar's leading startlets are Spaniards. Marisa Paredes as Huma, a fading starlet, reminded me of her performance in "High Heels," wher she played a similar character. However the two emerging standouts in this film are Antonia San Juan as Manuela's drag-queen friend (fact: although she looks like a man, San Juan is actually a woman) and the beautiful Penelope Cruz, who plays a HIV-positive pregnant nun (only Almodovar can bring us such characters). Cruz, who radiates natural beauty and style has become Spain hottest export to Hollywood since Antonio Banderas. Keep an eye out for her in the near future.

The visual arrangement of colors, patterns, and clothes brings the film so much beauty it is unbearable not to watch and adore it. Almodovar's camera illusions, especially watching a grieving Manuela run to her injured son, Esteban, after he is struck by a car (the camera looks like if the victim is watching his mother run in the rain) and the trick of watching Esteban write in his journal (we see his pencil move through a glass that is supposed to be his pad) is amazing. Only the pure genius that Almodovar is could have thought of this.

This happens to be Almdovar's best film in the past 10 years. Truly, if you are an artist, an admirer of Spanish culture, or just love art films, then this film will fascinate you. A true gem in the evolution of Spanish cinema.

All About Almodovar
A flashy, sophisticated swirl of color, design, and art nouveau excess courtesy of the city of Barcelona frame a melodramatic core of prima donna antics and suffering mujeres. These women are way past a nervous breakdown--Cecilia Roth's raw emotions set the tone for much of the film; the transgender Antonia San Juan provides the madcap Almodovar wit of his earlier movies. Penelope Cruz stands out--a dark beauty who gives a haunting, fragile performance as an HIV-infected, pregnant nun. Throw in Marisa Paredes as an aging diva with ruby hair touring in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire and the stage is set for Almodovar's tribute to suffering womanhood, replete with wistful references to All About Eve. Not as consistently enjoyable as some of his earlier work but perhaps more mature and sad, more resigned to the vicissitudes of love and death. It's amazing that Almodovar--the greatest Spanish director since Bunuel--could have remained true to his sensibility and have won an academy award. He's Bunuel with none of the bitterness--Bunuel with a smile and a wink at the absurd.

An Outstanding Tribute
The beauty of Almodovar's latest work is the loving portrayal of women and perhaps the sacrifices women make for being mothers. Although less zany than his earlier works, Almodovar still manages to include goofy bits of humor that endear you to this fine work. Almodovar is getting a lot of attention from Hollywood for this work...Don't be surprised to finally see an English-speaking movie from this brilliant director.