La ley del deseo

The most significant aspect of The Law of Desire is the fact that it was so accepted in Spain at the time of its release. It was put forward by the authorities as the movie to represent the country in 1987. Bearing in mind that Spain had only come out of a fascist dictatorship not much more than a decade earlier, this simple fact is a testament to how far the country had moved on in such a short period of time. The reason for this is that this is an unashamedly gay themed film, one that celebrates homosexuality and depicts it without issue.

The film itself is about a love triangle between three men. Like several other Pedro Almodóvar films it's a melodrama with thriller elements. It features an extremely daring performance by Antonio Banderas in a role where he is required to perform in some full-on gay love scenes. These moments made the film front page news in Spain but it did nothing to stop Banderas subsequent rise to stardom. For me, however, this is a middling movie. It's not amongst the director's best. In my view, its interest lies more in its historical significance as opposed to it's worth as a film.

THE LAW OF DESIRE opened the 1987 Miami Int'l Film Festival. Almodovar and Carmen Maura had already broken through to the American market at this event with WHAT HAVE I DONE TO... a few years earlier. So it was surprising to find them pacing nervously up and down the lobby of the C.Grove Playhouse at THE LAW's North American premiere. They were also in and out of its rest rooms, as the sold out audience roared in laughter and applauded the film, and I was making an early dash to the post-premiere party at the Viscaya Palace. They were acting just like the neurotic characters they bring to life in this and their other films. They were still insecure and frustrated that their huge popularity and celebrity status in Europe was reduced to a recent, almost cult, following in the U.S. They needn't have worried. The film confirmed both of these artists along with Antonio Banderas as stars among North American art movie lovers. (This achievement would be crowned the following year with the triumph of their next collaboration: the Oscar-nominated WOMEN ON THE VERGE...) But THE LAW OF DESIRE will be remembered as Almodovar's self-confessed most personal work, and the masterpiece of his earlier career. This film is pure Almodovar, before he toned down to more mainstream fare. LAW... resumes the Almodovarian style, in all its excesses. It features most of his muses, beyond Maura and Banderas: Rossy dePalma, Bibi Anderssen, Eusebio Poncela, and the rest. His style as a writer/director of women goes over the top here, as does his predilection with telephones, the police, drug use (cocaine in particular), the media, dysfunctional families, sexual ambiguity, the Catholic Church, and the city of Madrid. Almodovar fans will note that all the above themes permeate his work. But nowhere are they so well linked and exposed as in this landmark film.

I once read that Pedro Almodovar wanted to reach out his audience via their hearts, their minds and their genitals, with this, my first experience with the director, he most certainly sticks to his aims. The film opens with a young man masturbating upon the orders of his director, from here on in the tone is set for what is, a bonkers, yet highly entertaining picture.

The plot revolves around the sexual adventures of gay director Pablo Quintero and his transsexual sister, Tina, her struggle with men and the duty of bringing up a young daughter who she fathered when she was a he!, still with me?. Into their lives comes Antonio Benitez, he's sexually fascinated with Pablo but gets his nose put out of joint upon learning of Pablo's love of another guy called Juan, things are about to get darkly unnerving.

Law Of Desire is stylish and full of tricky eccentricities, it's also very much in your face with its blatant urge to be seedy, however it's backed up by wonderful performances from Antoino Banderas {Benitez}, Carmen Maura {Tina} and Eusebio Poncela {Pablo}, whilst it's director is clearly a talent that was, at this time in his life, making films with attitude and a devil may care spirit. 7/10

I saw this film after having seen Bad Education, and there are many plot lines similar in both. I loved this film, not only am I a huge fan of Almodóvar, but in this film, the easy and simple beauty of the shots stood out. The acting was good, not amazing but good, particularly from Pablo and Tina. As well as directing beautifully, Almodóvar knows how to infuse a scene with sex, even if no sex is actually taking place-for example, when Antonio lights his cigarette of Pablo's. The film does become melodramatic towards the end, but I don't see this as a failing, melodrama, if done well, as it is here, need not be ridiculous

This is my second favourite Almodovar film, after "Hable con Ella". It reveals the depth of the characters' feelings with such subtlety and delicacy that as viewers we find ourselves unable to judge the characters' actions. We are puzzled by the intensity of their desire, love and misery in the same way that we are puzzled by Benigno's deep loneliness and longing for love in "Hable con Ella". In "La ley del Deseo," murder and suicide become extreme natural consequences of the characters' love and suffering. We cannot condemn the murder any more than we can condemn the rape in "Hable con Ella".