Special Coverage Michael Jackson Reality TV The Must List Twilight Summer Entertainment Pop Style
  • --

Credits

Rated: R; Genres: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language; With: Victoria Abril and Marisa Paredes; Distributor: Miramax

With their bright colors and arresting set decoration, movies by Spain's Pedro Almódovar, such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), show up to terrific advantage on the video screen. But in High Heels, his disingenuous, jokey variation on Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, the welcome has worn as the tale precariously treads a thin line between pathos and farce. In it a self-centered, high-strung actress (Marisa Paredes) returns to Madrid after many years only to discover that her neglected daughter (Victoria Abril) has married her former lover, who is then murdered. If only Almodovar could commit to one real emotion. Instead, he's almost obsessed with being irreverent and hip, and it has become a tired old style. The story of abandonment is rich and affecting, yet ultimately it's about little more than decor. Pedro, it appears, needs to get back into flats. C-


Sign up for EW.com's The 25 newsletter!

Stay in the know and get EW.com's top 5 stories, 5 days a week (sent weekday afternoons).
Posted Jan 22, 1993
  • Print
  • Del.icio.us
  • Google
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • More
 

Add Your Comments

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. You must have javascript enabled to submit a comment.
--
Change/Edit your grade
characters remaining