Almodóvar's 21st film, the powerful, deeply personal DOLOR Y GLORIA, resounded strongly with me.
Recovering from a back operation, acclaimed director Salvador Mallo is unwell, and cannot work.
An early film is being revived and a proposed appearance with the lead actor Alberto is impossible as they fell out 32 years ago.
Reconciling with Alberto, Salvador tries heroin for the first time; it brings pain relief but increases his tiredness, his dreams returning him to his childhood in Valencia, living with his parents in a whitewashed cave home.
Salvador allows Alberto to adapt an unpublished short story for a one-man show, about Salvador's first lover who he tried to nurse through a heroin addiction. One night the lover, Federico, visiting Madrid from Argentina, sees the play and visits Salvador, both moved at the reconciliation.
Confronting his unresolved relationship with his late mother and his first male desire brings renewal.
Shelf or charity shop? Total shelf. It feels like a culmination of Almodóvar's films over the past twenty years, retracing again memories of family faultlines. Salvador's increasingly personal reunions with past failings lead to a wonderful final scene when memory and renewal connect. The film primarily belongs to the Pedro regulars: Antonio Banderas's performance is so subtle that it haunts you. It was his 8th Almodóvar film, and he deserved, among other honours, the Cannes and Goya Awards for Best Actor. Julieta Serrano is excellent as his dying mother Jacinta, her silent reproach at his life finally aired: she won the Best Supporting Actress Goya Award for this, her 6th Pedro collaboration. Penélope Cruz also appears in her 6th Almodóvar collaboration, shining as the younger Jacinta in Salvador's memories, her performance is marvellously earthy yet layered. Astonishingly good are Asier Flores as the boy Salvador and César Vicente as Eduardo, the young village painter who becomes his first obsession. Asier Etxiandia is fine as Alberto the actor as is Nora Navas as Mallo's agent but Leonardo Sbaraglia is magnificent as Salvador's first lover Federico: the central scene between him amd Banderas is tenderly played and emotionally devastating. A special mention for the cameo from Cecilia Roth (in her 8th Pedro film) as the actress who helps reunite Salvador and Antonio. DOLOR Y GLORIA also features remarkable work from composer Alberto Iglesias (his 11th Pedro film), cinematographer José Luis Alcaine (his 7th film with Almodóvar) and production designer Antxón Gómez (his 9th collaboration). A perfect film.
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