Broken Embraces
Sex, romance, deception, murder, movies. It's all just another day in the world of Pedro Almodovar. The lovably self-assured Spanish filmmaker behind such movies as All About My Mother and Volver has once again teamed up with his muse, the vivacious Penélope Cruz, to spin a tale of woe and heartbreak. Titled Broken Embraces, Almodovar's latest is an engaging thriller with mysterious undertones. Some of the mystery elements are relatively predictable, but many require careful consideration and Almodovar's ability to peel back the narrative layers with great patience lends the movie an attractive energy.
Broken Embraces chronicles the experiences of several individuals whose lives intersect over the course of two different timelines. There is the filmmaker who will eventually become a blind writer (Lluís Homar), the escort who will become a ravishing actress (Cruz), the slimy producer (José Luis Gómez), the filmmaker's seemingly loyal assistant (Blanca Portillo), and the producer's son (Rubén Ochandiano), whose story hides many clues to the overall mystery. It's a large cast and there are still other characters in the movie who help forward the narrative. Almodovar juggles the plotlines with ease and manages to prevent the movie from collapsing under the weight of its heavy convolution.
One timeline begins in 1992, while the other begins in 2008. As the movie progresses, the separate timelines tighten and draw nearer to each other. Most of the characters viewed in the earlier timeline are either changed or absent in the later timeline, so the mystery behind their disappearance or transformation becomes a focal point of the movie. Watching the various character arcs unfold is an enjoyable experience and the capable cast make the most of their roles. Homar carries the brunt of the narrative weight, occupying both timelines with authority and purpose.
Cruz is relegated to the earlier timeline and her glowing presence is certainly missed in the many scenes from which she is absent. Cruz tends to do her best work under Almodovar's direction and her performance in Broken Embraces is no exception to the rule. She lights up the screen every moment she appears in front of the camera and one scene in which she poses for a variety of still shots evokes memories of past screen stars with her frozen expressions of unbridled beauty.
Considering that much of Broken Embraces revolves around men fighting for the affections of Cruz's character, it is important that Cruz be an appropriate object of desire. The chemistry between her character and the warring suitors is never palpable enough to be fully convincing, but it remains rather easy to imagine why these men are so interested in her. Almodovar puts nearly all of that responsibility on Cruz's shoulders, so while the romantic plotlines are never as emotionally resonant as they are likely intended to be, the obsessive conflict between those characters vying for Cruz's attention adds some worthy fuel to the dramatic fire.
As the gap between the two timelines narrows, the various mysteries begin to rise to the surface. Some are drawn out for so long that their conclusion is rather obvious by the time it arrives, but others deliver genuine surprises that fill in many of the narrative blanks. Almodovar takes great pleasure in revealing the answers and he executes the convergence of the two timelines near the movie's end in an intriguing manner. Despite a heavier adherence to the conventions of the mystery and thriller genres than some of his past work, Broken Embraces is still an Almodovar film in every possible way. It's inviting, unique, funny, attractive, and it stars Penelope Cruz in a wonderfully memorable role. Almodovar's latest movie doesn't necessarily offer anything we haven't seen before in the filmmaker's past work, but its familiarity breeds success and the result is cinema envisioned as a recognizable embrace.
