Mostly set in a small Madrid apartment, this film is centred on cleaner Gloria. She lives there with her taxi driver husband, their two sons and her mother in law. Her life is ostensibly ordinary; she certainly doesn't see it as anything special but as the story progresses things get slightly surreal. Things aren't easy for her, the family is short of money and her husband doesn't approve of her working... especially for people recommended by Gloria's friend Cristal, the prostitute who lives next door. Things don't get any more normal when grannie brings home a lizard she found in the park and a neighbour suggests to Gloria's husband that he could use his skill for copying handwriting to help fake Hitler's memoirs to mention just a couple of events.
This film is classic Almodóvar with its strong female lead, played by regular collaborator Carmen Maura, and surreal things happening is what appears to be a very ordinary situation. These situations provide plenty of laughs even when things aren't going well for Gloria. Given how surreal things are it is surprising that it only slipped into silliness once; when it is revealed that a neighbour's daughter has telekinetic powers... and this was just a single scene. There is a sense of darkness as times, especially towards the end but the way it is depicted means it is never depressing. Carmen Maura does a fine job as Gloria, Verónica Forqué is a delight as Cristal and Chus Lampreave is very funny as the grandmother. Overall I'd certainly recommend this, especially to fans of Almodóvar's other films.
These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.
This film is classic Almodóvar with its strong female lead, played by regular collaborator Carmen Maura, and surreal things happening is what appears to be a very ordinary situation. These situations provide plenty of laughs even when things aren't going well for Gloria. Given how surreal things are it is surprising that it only slipped into silliness once; when it is revealed that a neighbour's daughter has telekinetic powers... and this was just a single scene. There is a sense of darkness as times, especially towards the end but the way it is depicted means it is never depressing. Carmen Maura does a fine job as Gloria, Verónica Forqué is a delight as Cristal and Chus Lampreave is very funny as the grandmother. Overall I'd certainly recommend this, especially to fans of Almodóvar's other films.
These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.