La fleur de mon secret

"The Flower of My Secret" is from 1995, written and directed by Pedro Almodovar. It's not his best, but even a weaker Almodovar is better than just about anything out there.

The story begins strangely, with two youngish men, doctors, attempting to convince a woman to let her brain-dead son's organs be harvested. It turns out that it's some sort of training. Leo (Marisa Paredes) is waiting outside to ask her friend for help. She can't get her boots off and needs help.

Leo's husband is in the military. She is a writer, a famous one, though not under her own name. She uses the name Amanda Gris. She goes to see the editor of a newspaper and asks to do a literature section for him. After he reads her unpublished novel, he hires her to write a story about Amanda Gris. Later on, he tells her that a film is being made and the story is similar to the novel.

When Leo's husband Paco (Imanol Aris) shows up, it's obvious that though she has a great evening planned, he does not share her ardor. And he actually isn't on leave; he just has to leave, and he does. Leo is completely devastated.

This is a more serious Almodovar and, though Leo does have a nutty mother, a maid who dances, and the maid's son (a dancer/filmmaker), this isn't a film studded with Almodovar's usual assortment of eccentric characters and situations.

Almodovar ties up the theme with the training we see in the beginning -- acceptance and moving on. It's a lovely story of a woman unable to free herself from her life, in the same way she can't get those boots, but who ultimately breaks loose.

Though it doesn't quite succeed, "The Flower of My Secret" is worth seeing.

The film famed for pivoting Almodovar's move away from formless farce to the rich delights of melodrama, which would produce his two masterpieces, LIVE FLESH and ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. SECRET isn't quite up to those films (the mix of comedy and drama isn't quite digested) but is a wonderful start, with its amazing heroine, whose delusions and needs are revealed but never resolved; its typically eccentric supporting cast; its ruminations on the artist and her art - there are writers, editors, dancers, filmmakers all in the film - and secrets, both private and public; its silly men; its use of interiors and decor; Almodovar's still cherishable, unparalleled use of colour, allied with a new found sense of composition (the later films would reveal his increasing mastery of the camera); some extraordinary shots, especially the paper shower during the students' demonstration.

In a very short period of time I've seen several of Pedro Almodóvar's movies and I've become a fan of his work. I love his style of mixing drama with (sometimes absurd) humor and music. I like the fact that he always knows to make you feel as if you know the characters personally after seeing the movie... Having said this, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by "La flor de mi secreto".

The characters aren't as well developed as I'm used to see in his movies and it's sometimes very hard to care for his main character: Leo Macías (Marisa Paredes). As Amanda Gris (her pseudonym), she is a writer of very successful sentimental novels who deal about love, sex and happy endings. But her personal life is a complete mess. She doesn't want to write this kind of novels anymore and she gets an assignment from a magazine to write a review on the work of... Amanda Gris. Her relationship with her man isn't any good. He works for the Nato, is more abroad than at home and when he's at home he wants to leave as soon as possible. She drinks too much, her mother is a cause of many concerns... She wants to change her whole life, but it isn't as easy as she hoped it would be.

Even though the story isn't bad or boring, it doesn't really succeed to be as captivating as I would like it to be. The positive thing about this movie is that you already can see Almodovár's talent for the use of humor and music, great camera work, interesting story telling... sipping through. Things that became more obvious in his later work. This movie may not be the best example of his work, but it is worth a watch. I give it a 6/10.

Sweet, and very well acted. This is much less wild and outrageous than earlier Almodovar, but compensates by having more real emotion. Still, this has two of his usual key elements -- dramatic use of intense color, and a melodramatic, almost soapy, story. It's clear he loves melodrama at the same time he gently pokes fun at it.

But in 'Flower of My Secret' the soap has more underpinnings in humanity, with subtler behavior and humor. Technically he gets even better with this film. It's beautiful, shot in a more subdued style than his earlier work. Not a great movie, but a good, entertaining, human one that paves the way to his later fully 'real' and moving masterpieces like 'Talk to Her'. Lovely performances.

There seem to be two distinct groups among Almodovar fans. Those who prefer his earlier, wilder, more genre busting work, and those who prefer his more recent, subtler films. I'm in the second group, but can completely understand those who feel differently. And where you fall on that scale is likely to have a big impact on your reaction to this film.

Only Pedro Almodovar can do a melodrama that crosses genres like this film. In one sense, this is a film that you would expect to see on Lifetime.

Marisa Paredes (All About My Mother, Life is Beautiful) is nothing less than outstanding a a writer that is going through a crisis with a husband (Imanol Arias) that does not love her anymore. There is, of course, a crisis with her mother (Chus Lampreave - Volver) at the same time. Then, she finds out that it is her best friend that is having an affair with her husband, and there are profession problems at the same time. Sounds just like a Lifetime movie, doesn't it? But, Almodovar manages to give us a great story with his twists. Laughs are generous as comedic situations occur throughout. It's like wanting to laugh at something at a funeral. It happens, and we just have to deal with it.

Juan Echanove (who supposedly gave a great performance in Alatriste, the film that I have been waiting for release theatrically, or on DVD) is superb as Ángel, the newspaper editor who fulfills a dream to write romance novels. and who is in love with Leo (Parades).

It is just another great film from Almodovar that defies a description that would ever do it justice. Only experiencing his films can ever be pleasure.