Rating: 4.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2022 | 33/52 | Cannes’s Big Winners
Manuela is a nurse at Ramón y Cajal Hospital watching an EKG monitor. She steps away to call the National Transplant Organization and inform them of a potential donor. Back home, she prepares dinner for herself and her 17-year-old son, Esteban. Esteban calls her into the living room as All About Eve starts on TV. Through their conversation, we see how much Esteban cares for his mother and how much his mother cares for him. Esteban is an aspiring writer working on a story about Manuela for a competition.
One night, Manuela and Esteban see a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Huma Rojo as Blanche DuBois. Manuela connects with the character of Stella, whom she played 20 years ago. Esteban’s father, who died before he was born, played Stanley. After the show, Esteban wants to get Huma Rojo’s autograph. They stand in the rain, waiting for her to exit the theater. When she exits, she immediately jumps into a taxi. Esteban, undeterred, runs after the taxi. He doesn’t see the car turn in, which hits him and kills him.
Last night, Mom showed me a picture of when she was young. Half of it was missing. I didn't want to tell her, but my life is missing that same half.
At the hospital, Manuela gives consent for the hospital to donate Esteban’s heart, which goes to a man in A Coruña. Three weeks pass, and Manuela tracks down the man who received the donated heart. Her partner, Mamen, tries to help her process, but Manuela wants to be alone. So, she quits her job and travels to Barcelona to find Esteban’s other mother, Lola.
The film follows Manuela as she reunites with her past and all its secrets and forges new relationships that strengthen her during this painful time.
Many of Almodóvar’s movies feature motherhood in some capacity, exploring the various ways it manifests. This film’s title, while a dedication to all mothers, is also about his mother, Francisca Caballero, who died a few months after this film’s release. As a writer himself, Almodóvar wishes to encase in the amber of film the deep and complex love he has for her and the way artists use art to keep alive feelings for people who have passed.
As someone with a complicated relationship with my mother, I’m unsure if Almodóvar intends for the erotic subtext between mother and son. His devotion and fixation on her have the intensity of a lover more than that of a son.
Boys who live alone with their mothers have a special look, more serious than normal, like an intellectual or a writer. In my case, that's normal because I'm also a writer.
Almodóvar rarely shies away from rich colors—this film is no different. Its stunning reds, blues, and teals add warmth to the scenes. These colors appear at home, on stage, in costumes, and even in the color-coded binders at the National Transplant Organization.
The movie plays with metatextual elements. Esteban complains about the Spanish title of All About Eve, Eve Unveiled, saying it should be Todo Sobre Eve. Manuela says the title sounds weird just as this movie’s title card comes up. In All About Eve, Margo complains about folks who seek autographs, saying they’re not true fans—a foreshadowing of future events. Similarly, Manuela acts in a recreation of a woman losing her husband and the doctors asking her about organ donations.
These moments also act as homage to many of Almodóvar’s influences. Manuella buys Esteban a copy of Truman Capote’s Music for Chameleons. They see A Streetcar Named Desire—Tennesee Williams’s melodramatic story overlaps with this one.
The film gracefully handles trans characters and sex workers. Some of the language has evolved since, but for 1999, it’s a relief to be able to relax and know the film will treat these characters with care, even if they face awful circumstances. This is, after all, a melodrama.
I have always appreciated Almodóvar, but his stylistic choices work together beautifully here. This film is easily my favorite of his that I’ve seen thus far. I hope to live my life with the same generosity of heart that Manuela has in this movie.