Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! [Átame!] **** (1989, Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles León, Francisco Rabal, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma, Francisca Caballero) – Classic Movie Review 3576

Writer-director Pedro Almodóvar’s exuberant, hard-hitting 1989 Spanish art-movie romantic thriller stars Antonio Banderas as Ricky, a young stud who is freed from a psychiatric ward of a mental hospital and tries unorthodox methods to woo a feisty porn film star, Marina Osorio (Victoria Abril). He once had sex with Marina, and ties her up to convince her to be his wife.

Almodóvar tells a straightforward love story in the most provocative, amusing and finally touching manner he can make possible, meanwhile scoring serious points about relationships among a welter of bawdy humour.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! [Átame!] was highly controversial in its day, and not universally liked or admired. Some people misunderstood it and took away the wrong signals and messages. But, even though often accused of being misogynist, it is a stupendous movie, one of Almodóvar’s best.

Also in the cast are Loles León, Francisco Rabal, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma, Lola Cardona and Maria Barranco.

Jose Luis Alcaine’s cinematography and Ennio Morricone’s score grace the project.

British video of the day offered a choice of subtitled or dubbed versions.

Antonio Banderas didn’t work with Almodóvar again till The Skin I live In in 2011.

The Banderas-Abril sex scene took nine hours to film in nine different takes. Almodóvar liked the last one as the actors had worked up a real sweat.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3576

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