Labyrinth of Passion [Laberinto de Pasiones] **½ (1982, Cecilia Roth, Imanol Arias, Helga Liné, Antonio Banderas, Marta Fernández Muro) – Classic Movie Review 3578

Spanish enfant terrible cult director Pedro Almodóvar‘s 1982 second feature film arrived belatedly in Britain in 1992 on the back of his later hits. Almodóvar’s early, hesitant sex comedy is more oddball than screwball.

Celia Roth stars as punk rocker nymphomaniac Sexilia, who falls for Arab prince Riza Niro (Imanol Arias), who prefers make-up and men. Antonio Banderas makes his début in a support role as gay Islamic terrorist Sadec. Niro discovers Sadec and co are after him, disguises himself as a punk rocker, and falls in love with Sexilia, Marta Fernández Muro plays Queti, a dry cleaner’s daughter, who helps Sexilia adapt to her new life style.

This sometimes-amusing fledgling work – following Pepi, Luci and Bom (1980) – is camp, outrageous and vulgar enough. But it is terribly disorganised and lacks charm. The original music score is by Bernardo Bonezzi and the cinematography is by Angel Luís Fernández.

Also in the cast are Helga Liné, Fernando Vivanco, Ofelia Angélica, Ángel Alcázar, Concha Grégori, Cristina Sánchez Pascual, Fany [Fabio] McNamara, Luis Ciges, Agustin Almodóvar (the director’s producer brother), Maria Elena Flores, Ana Trigo and Pedro Almodóvar.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3578

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