April’s Film - All about my mother (Todo sobre mi madre)
Let’s face it, women are generally great and men are a bit rubbish. No matter what you throw at a woman she can generally cope - whether it be single parenthood, religion, prostitution, civil war or unfaithful partners. Yet at the first sign of trouble your average man either makes for the hills or goes into his own little senile world. In fact women are so great that most of us men probably want to be one.
Not my words, but rather the implied message behind Almodóvar’s film, All about my mother. Giving the phrase “Chick flick” a whole new dimension this film does make you wonder what sort of male role models the poor director/writer had in his youth. The only semi-balanced male character (!!SPOILER ALERT !! SPOILER ALERT !!) gets killed fairly early and from then on in it’s a pretty sorry cast list for the male of the species.
Maybe there is something in what he’s saying given that when you look around it’s usually the female that’s left (literally) holding the baby and finding a way to get by. And this film plays out that familiar message against the backdrop of prostitution, transexuality and Gaudi.
And therein lies the problem. Although the central premise is easily recognisable, the world in which he places the characters and story isn’t. That’s not to say movies can’t amplify or magnify but if you’re trying to tell an every-women / every-man type story it doesn’t help when you over-exaggerate events and characters so much. If you’re trying to say that men are jealous of what women have is it overstating the point when most men in the movie are transsexuals? If you’re trying to say that women are part mother, part angel, part sinner is it taking it too far to have the plot revolve around children, nuns and prostitution?
Having said all that, it is quite an enjoyable little romp and I seemed to emerge from it without feeling entirely emasculated. The central characters are interesting and well developed and, although stretched to breaking point, the theme the film is trying to tackle is an interesting one.
Although it did have subtitles, was in foreign and there were very few deaths and action sequences so perhaps I have missed the point.
