All About My Mother (1999)
The cinephile’s chick flick?
Presentation:
One of Almodovar’s signature films, I now realize the reason for its acclaim is due to its topic rather than story. As usual, his film has lush color with splashes of red, blue and yellow, and the beautiful Penelope Cruz as always. Other than that, it’s heavily dialogue motivated from the female perspective. For this reason and the fact the film is mostly women gossiping, this will feel like a high quality chick flick. Not that this is necessarily bad, in fact, it’s this perspective that makes it special. The beginning has interesting moments but I found it mostly slow. If you can make it to the second half, you should eventually feel part of this female entourage like you have been friends gossiping your entire life.
Conclusion:
The story structure is very Almodovar-esque, leaving the reveal for the very end. But in 2026, I found it quite disappointing when LGB themes are commonplace. I think the film relies on its transgender punchlines too much, meaning that there will be some that deeply connect with this film and others that don’t feel anything at all. The message about motherhood is beautiful, but I wasn’t really convinced how it was all put together.
Recommendations
Gasper Noé climaxed a long time ago.