The Flower of My Secret/La Flor de Mi Secreto (1995) - Paredes star turn in charming Almodóvar work

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A buxom female figure typewrites against a sea of roses on this kitschy poster for Pedro Almodóvar's The Flower of My Secret

Leocadia lives in longing for her military husband Paco. Meanwhile she writes a novel, and the editor of newspaper El Pais falls in love with her, while she tries to test boundaries with her romance written using a pseudonym. 

 

The Flower of My Secret is written and directed by Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Folle... Folle... Fólleme Tim! (1978)), whose 12th feature it is. It is an adaptation of the short story The Lovely Leave by Dorothy Parker (Enough Rope (1926)).

Marisa Paredes (Continental (1989)) is wonderful as our tested protagonist, and particularly the scenes of Leocadia with her sister and their vision-impaired, constipated mother are divine. Visually the film is attractive with primary colors galore and strong faces to go with them.

Almodóvar fares well in this comedic melodrama that's less sensationalistic than some of his previous efforts, despite an ending that isn't completely satisfying and the fact that the film might be slightly overlong.

 

Related posts:

Pedro Almodóvar: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess  

Pain and Glory/Dolor y Gloria (2019) - Almodóvar's 8½ 
The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over
Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life

Talk to Her/Hable con Ella (2002) - Almodóvar's beautiful coma love drama 
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix

High Heels/Tacones Lejanos (1991) - Superficially worthwhile Almodóvar crime melodrama 
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 3.8-4.5 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 15.3 mil. $

= Box office success or big hit, depending on the actual cost (returned 3.4-4.02 times its cost)

[The Flower of My Secret was released 22 September (Spain) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place in Spain, including in Madrid. The film earned 1 mil. $ (6.5 % of the total gross) in North America, and JPBox-Office reports the total gross listed above, as well as a 3.73 mil. € cost, approximately 3.8 mil. $. Wikipedia lists, instead, 4.5 mil. $. (Also, the € currency was not in existence before 1999.) The film was Spain's entry for the Oscars of the year but wasn't nominated. It was nominated for 7 Goya awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Almodóvar returned with Pastas Ardilla (1996, short) and theatrically with Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997). Paredes returned in Three Lives and Only One Dead/Trois Vies et une Seule Mort (1996); Juan Echanove (Arcibel's Game/El Juego de Arcibel (2003)) in Suspiros de España (y Portugal) (1995). The Flower of My Secret is fresh at 85 % with a 7.0/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Flower of My Secret?

High Heels/Tacones Lejanos (1991) - Superficially worthwhile Almodóvar crime melodrama

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A sexy leather stiletto blends into a revolver on this tomato-red-and-black poster for Pedro Almodóvar's High Heels

A young, beautiful news anchor reconnects with her beloved but selfish mother, who had abandoned her in favor of a pop star career for a number of years. Now the daughter murders her husband.

 

High Heels is written and directed by Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Folle... Folle... Fólleme Tim! (1978)), whose 10th feature it is. The original title translates to 'distant heels'.

It is an unfocused, woman-adoring, stylized, minor Almodóvar picture, complete with drag appearances, drag sex, a women's prison and two well-acting, emotionally gushing women in the leads: Victoria Abril (Libertarias (1996)) and Marisa Paredes (Salvajes (2001)), and a young Javier Bardem (The Counselor (2013)) in a supporting role.

High Heels isn't terribly original nor successful and is rather soap opera-like but still worthwhile due to Almodóvar's flourishes and vivid ideas.

 

Related posts:

Pedro Almodóvar: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess  

Pain and Glory/Dolor y Gloria (2019) - Almodóvar's 8½ 
The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over
Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life

Talk to Her/Hable con Ella (2002) - Almodóvar's beautiful coma love drama 
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 7.7 mil. $ (North America and projected Spain gross only)

= Uncertain - but likely a huge hit

[High Heels was released 23 October (Spain) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place from April - July 1991 in Spain, including in Madrid. The film opened #13 to a 74k $ first weekend in North America in 13 theaters, where it went on to gross 1.7 mil. $. It was a big hit in Spain, where it reportedly sold 1.5 mil. tickets, coming to 6 mil. $ if projected at a low 4 $ average prize. It was reportedly also popular in Italy, but gross numbers are regrettably kept secret. It was released in many markets, almost all Western. If made on a realistic 1-2 mil. $ budget, the film would likely rank as a huge hit. It won a César award, was nominated for a Golden Globe and 5 Goya awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Almodóvar returned with Kika (1993). Abril returned in Demasiado Corazón (1992); Paredes in Golem, l'Esprit de l'Exil (1992) and Migual Bosé (Oui (1996)) in La Nuit Sacrée (1993). High Heels is rotten at 53 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of High Heels?

The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over

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The ominous poster for Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In

QUICK REVIEW:

SPOILER A feted Spanish plastic surgeon has a patient locked up in his basement: It is actually the man who raped his daughter, which made her commit suicide, whom the good doctor has now decided to give a sex change, slowly ... Meanwhile, the surgeon's mother also acts as his maid, who has never told him the Truth, and one day the other son comes and rapes the prisoner. She later breaks free.

Antonio Banderas (I'm So Excited (2013)) acts well in this his first collaboration with Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education/La Mala Educación (2004)) in 21 years. For better and for worse, the film examines the boundaries of the genders in a mad doctor-plot, which is greatly inhibited from excessive stylization and focus on decor over presence and soul. The result is a very vulgar and empty film that is improved by intermittent doses of humor.
Almodóvar co-wrote The Skin I Live In with his brother Augustín Almodóvar (Wild Tales (2014) producer), based on the novel Mygale/Tarantula (1984) by Thierry Jonquet. 
Though I am an Almodóvar fan, I did not care much for this unusual sex drama.
Currently, he is filming his next film, the drama Silencio (2016), which centers on a woman gone mad.

Related reviews:

Pedro Almodóvar: Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style

Watch the trailer for the film here - underlaid a track by Danish electronic artist Trentemøller

Cost: 13.5 mil. $
Box office: 30.8 mil. $
= Minor flop
[The movie was released in the autumn, in contrast to Almodóvar's usual habit of spring releases in Spain and autumn for the rest of the world. It was nominated as Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes and for 16 (!) Goya awards (Spain's Oscar), winning 4. The film is generally better reviewed than here.]

What do you think of The Skin I Live In?

The Devil's Backbone/El Espinoza del Diablo (2001) - The excellent Gothic genre-mix that is Del Toro's best film so far

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One of the chilling posters for Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone

The boy Carlos arrives at an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. Among the complexities that he tries to navigate in his life there is the eerie ghost of a recently deceased boy.

Devil's Backbone is a sweepingly beautiful war horror drama about the haunted life in a war-torn orphanage, with great cinematography by Guillermo Navarro (Pacific Rim (2013)). The film is the result of an unusual and bold script by great Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (Blade II (2002)), Antonio Trashorras and David Muñoz (Holy Night! (2011), both).
The children act impressively well, and it is a highly effective plot with Carlos (Fernando Tielve (The Shanghai Spell/El Embrujo de Shanghai (2002))) and the ghost boy Santi (Junio Valverde (Shiver/Eskalofrío (2008))). Of the adult actors, the film also features fine turns from Spain's great Marisa Paredes (All About My Mother/Todo Sobre Mi Madre (1999)) as the institution's mysterious 'mother' with a strange prosthetic leg, Federico Luppi (Phase 7 (2010)) as her doctor husband and Eduardo Noreiga (Beauty and the Beast (2014)) as the vengeful caretaker. This is a solid, imaginative ghost story rich with details that makes it worth watching several times. It has a really soulful Spanish feel to it.
The Devil's Backbone is often compared to its director Toro's three-times Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth/El Laberinto del Fauno (2006), which is also a dark film about a child in war-torn Spain, but I find that Backbone is the better film of the two and still Toro's best film. 
He has since its release grown to become one of the most prominent directors in the world with several huge upcoming projects: The first one to arrive will be the highly anticipated, hugely stylized gothic horror Crimson Peak (2015), which will be the director's first film since the kaiju movie Pacific Rim.

Related reviews:

Guillermo del Toro: Pacific Rim (2013) or, The Monster Resistance
Blade II (2002) or, The Vampire Ass-Kicker 2 

Watch the strange American trailer for the film here, which, - characteristically (and ridiculously), - avoids revealing that Spanish is the spoken language in the film

Cost: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: 6.4 mil. $
= Big flop
[Despite being well-received critically, Devil's Backbone didn't make much money outside its native Spain, (where it made 3 mil. €.) It made 0.7 mil. $ (11 % of the total gross) in the US.]

What do you think of The Devil's Backbone?
Is it also your favorite Del Toro movie?