Almodovar Takes A Dramatic Turn

Pedro Almodovar’s latest film is being deemed, by near-universal decree, to be his best.

“All About My Mother” already has won the Golden Globe and France’s Cesar for best foreign film, and it copped the top European Film Award. It took seven Goyas (Spain’s version of the Oscar), was the 1999 pick of foreign films by several American critics’ groups and is the odds-on favorite to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar on March 26.

Yet, to some moviegoers, calling “All About My Mother” the best Almodovar movie to date really isn’t saying much. Almodovar typically makes a kind of movie — weird and wacky, featuring sexually obsessive and/or gender-blender characters - that’s definitely an acquired taste.

“Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” the 1988 movie that brought Almodovar his first international attention, has moments of true hilarity. But the rape sequence prominently featured in 1990’s “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” struck a number of viewers as not particularly funny.

In “All About My Mother,” Almodovar offers us more of the same and something different all at once.

Yes, his major characters are still women. Yes, he still uses sets with garish primary colors designed to match his cast’s costumes. And Almodovar, a gay filmmaker - who once told Entertainment Weekly, “In Europe, they assume I am gay. I’ve never talked about it, I’ve never denied it” - still populates his film with sexually ambiguous or trans-gendered characters.

The difference here is that Almodovar has turned serious. “All About My Mother” boasts a solemn undertone that makes the occasional comic bit feel more pathetic than genuinely humorous. And the non-comic parts are, at moments, heartbreaking.

The film revolves around Manuela (Cecilia Roth), an organ transplant coordinator who - irony alert - ends up having to make the same kind of decision involving someone close to her. Caught up in her grief, Manuela ends up leaving Madrid in search of her son’s father - a man living as a woman named Lola.

Her travels bring her in contact with an aging stage actress (Marisa Paredes), the actress’ heroin-addicted co-star/lover (Candela Pena), an old friend named Agrado (Antonia San Juan) who, like Lola, was born a male but has the soul (and surgically enhanced body) of a woman.

Perhaps Cecilia’s most synchronistic relationship is with a nun named Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz), to whom, thanks to Lola, she becomes a surrogate mother. This both fills a gaping need in Cecilia’s life, and it brings her story full circle.

Almodovar (put the accent on the next-to-last syllable) has, no doubt, seasoned as a filmmaker. “All About My Mother” proves that both with its overall dramatic tone and in its sophisticatedly shifting point of view (for example, the film begins as a narration by Cecilia’s son before, abruptly, switching).

But, speaking again of taste, the film retains the familiar feel of Almodovar past. Only it feels less enjoyable than at least some of his earlier works - “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” in particular.

Almodovar may be growing up, but he’s still got a ways to go before he reaches what some of us would consider full maturity.

“All About My Mother” will play at 3:15, 5:45 and 8:10 p.m. Wednesday at The Met. Tickets, which are available at the door, are $4 for the early shows, $5 for the late show (624-6466 or 835-2638).

This sidebar appeared with the story: “All About My Mother” ** 1/2 Location: The Met Credits: Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, starring Cecilia Roth, Eloy Azorin, Marisa Paredes, Penelope Cruz, Candela Pena, Antonia San Juan, Rosa Maria Sarda. Running time: 1:45 Rating: R