All About My Mother [Todo sobre mi madre] ***** (1999, Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz, Candela Peña) – Classic Movie Review 3582

Spanish writer-director Pedro Almodóvar‘s 13th feature film is this triumphant Oscar-winning 1999 drama starring Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz and Candela Peña. The film is dedicated ‘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’s plot focuses on the mother of a teenager killed in a road accident and originates from his The Flower of My Secret (1995), which shows student doctors being trained how to persuade grieving relatives to allow organs to be used for transplant. Eloy Azorín plays young Esteban who wants to become a writer and discover the identity of his father, concealed by his mother Manuela (Cecilia Roth). Almodóvar boldly deals with the complex issues surrounding AIDS, homosexuality, transsexualism, faith and existentialism.

Cecilia Roth and Antonia San Juan.

The film was an international hit both at the box office (taking $67million on a cost of under $5million) and with the critics, winning both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language and the BAFTA Awards for Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Direction. The film also won six Spanish Goya Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress (Roth).

Eloy Azorín plays Esteban.

The cinematographer Affonso Beato shot the film mainly on location in Barcelona. The music is by Alberto Iglesias and the soundtrack includes Gorrión and Coral para mi pequeño y lejano pueblo, written and performed by Dino Saluzzi (playing with Marc Johnson and José Saluzzi) and Tajabone, written and performed by Ismaël Lô.

Marisa Paredes and Cecilia Roth.

Showing off his movie knowledge in both parody and homage, Almodóvar gleefully refers to All About Eve, A Streetcar Named Desire, Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock, and re-creates the accident scene from John Cassavetes’s Opening Night as the centre of the dramatic conflict.

Cecilia Roth and Eloy Azorín.

A stage adaptation of the film by playwright Samuel Adamson had its world première at London’s Old Vic theatre on 4 September 2007, starring Diana Rigg, Lesley Manville, Mark Gatiss, Joanne Froggatt Colin Morgan and Charlotte Randle. It is the first English language staging of an Almodóvar film and had his support. Iglesias’s score was used, with additional music by Max and Ben Ringham.

The cast is Cecilia Roth as Manuela, Marisa Paredes as Huma Rojo, Antonia San Juan as Agrado Penélope Cruz as Rosa, Candela Peña as Nina Cruz, Rosa Maria Sardà as Rosa’s mother, Fernando Fernán Gómez as Rosa’s father, Eloy Azorin as Esteban, Toni Cantó as Lola and Sapic as Sapic.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3582

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