Jeff Beck Reviews: Broken Embraces
Director Pedro Almodóvar, who last brought us the bizarre and ghostly “Volver,” now brings us his latest film, “Broken Embraces.” In its own way, it too is quite bizarre in the way that it plays with identity and memory, and how they can have a heavy influence on people. One of its character chooses to change his identity because of his memory with a woman; another woman witnesses this identity change and feels compelled to divulge her memories as part of a story that tells of jealousy, affairs, and the filmmaking business.
Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar) is a filmmaker who is now retired because of an accident that made him go blind. However, he does still help in writing screenplays with the assistance of his manager, Judit García (Blanca Portillo), and her son, Diego (Tamar Novas). Mateo has taken on the new name of Harry Caine because he believes that, as he says, “living one life is not enough.” One day, a young man, Ray X (Rubén Ochandiano), comes to Harry’s apartment asking for help in writing a screenplay. Mateo turns him away because he feels the idea is too personal.
It turns out that Ray X is actually the son of someone he knew when filming his last movie back in 1994. The film then reveals the backstory in flashbacks about the filming of Mateo’s last movie. When working on the movie, Mateo meets a young wannabe actress named Lena (Penélope Cruz), who is the mistress of Ernesto, the film’s producer. She auditions and gets the lead role in the film, but their relationship quickly turns into an affair. However, their affair can’t be kept secret for long with Lena’s son, Ernesto Jr. (Rubén Ochandiano), filming a documentary about the making of the film.
This film starts off rather slowly and drops you right in the middle of the characters’ lives. It takes a little while to get to know these characters and their relations to each other. This is probably why it takes so long for the actual story to get started, so that the viewer can collect all of this information before the backstory begins. Before it gets there though, it feels like it meanders for about 40 minutes.
When the actual story does start, it feels as though the film itself finally starts. Here is where the story elegantly unfolds, telling us of the affair between Mateo and Lena. This second act makes the film engaging enough to draw the viewer in and actual understand the characters and what they are going through in the present day.
The identity switch that Mateo goes through is particularly interesting. He tells us from the beginning that it is because one life is not enough, but in the flashbacks, we discover the true reason behind it, and his current condition. He basically goes through a situation in which he feels his current identity must be discarded for a new one.
The third act of the film wraps things up in a decent matter, though the ending could have used a little work to make it stronger. More is revealed in this section, particularly from Judit. Some of this information comes off feeling like it would have been better off in a soap opera, but it doesn’t really affect the film too much.
The scene in which Judit bares her soul regarding her part in Mateo’s film’s production is particularly well-crafted. She explains the aftermath of what occurred during his affair with Lena and what became of the movie, though Mateo knows well what happened to it at this point.
“Broken Embraces” has its share of effective performances, including recent Oscar-winner Penélope Cruz. Lena must do her best to hide the affair from Ernesto, but even when he finds out, she remains a powerful character who will not be told what to do. Lluís Homar also does some good work here as Mateo and Harry. Homar takes on a double role for the two identities he plays throughout the film, not exactly an easy task. After his experience of being with Lena during the filming of his last movie, he is a changed man.
I’ve tried my best to distinguish between his two identities throughout this review, because even at the end, he is changed again, for the better hopefully. Most of the film has been a flashback to tell Diego about how he knew Ray X, and it turns out to explain to him (and the audience) a whole lot more. Overall, Almodóvar has crafted a film that could have stood to be cut down some (it runs just over two hours, but feels longer), yet the way he brings everything together by the end in a non-linear fashion makes the film just interesting enough to recommend.
3/4 stars.
You can read this and other reviews in my column at The Richmond Examiner.
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