Customer Reviews

flawed brilliance
Having recently seen the sumptuous and flawless "Hable Con Ella" I immediately tracked down this film wishing to see more of Almodovars brilliance. However, whilst acknowledging that this is a much earlier work and taking that into account I was maybe still expecting too much if I hoped it would be in the same league as the later film.

Antonio Banderas plays a confused young man, filled with self doubt and insecurity unable to see blood without fainting, still a virgin and tormented by his devout, overbearing and sanctimonious mother. The doubt expressed about his heterosexuality by his morbidly obsessed bullfighting teacher leads to a string of unfortunate events. Banderas's character tries and fails to rape the girlfriend of his tutor resulting in further humiliation and self doubt which leads to his confessing to numerous murders he didn't commit.

With the introduction of a sexy defence attourney, who is equally morbidly obsessed as the matador the plot becomes burdened with trying to unravel itself to a resonably predictable ending, and despite some moments of brilliance both with the script and the film making, it fails to shock in the way it was intended.

Sex and violence are the central tenets here and the relationship between bullfighting and both is explored, bringing the conclusion that both matador and afficionado, having made it such a part of their lives, are unable to live with or without death.

There's a simplicity to the story that belies Almodovars brilliance and I'd certainly say that after making this he went on to greater things. However, while it's not for the faint hearted or squeamish, and there are many flaws in the story
as a whole, it still knocks seven bells out of most of Hollywoods output.

flawed brilliance
Having recently seen the sumptuous and flawless "Hable Con Ella" I immediately tracked down this film wishing to see more of Almodovars brilliance. However, whilst acknowledging that this is a much earlier work and taking that into account I was maybe still expecting too much if I hoped it would be in the same league as the later film.

Antonio Banderas plays a confused young man, filled with self doubt and insecurity unable to see blood without fainting, still a virgin and tormented by his devout, overbearing and sanctimonious mother. The doubt expressed about his heterosexuality by his morbidly obsessed bullfighting teacher leads to a string of unfortunate events. Banderas's character tries and fails to rape the girlfriend of his tutor resulting in further humiliation and self doubt which leads to his confessing to numerous murders he didn't commit.

With the introduction of a sexy defence attourney, who is equally morbidly obsessed as the matador the plot becomes burdened with trying to unravel itself to a resonably predictable ending, and despite some moments of brilliance both with the script and the film making, it fails to shock in the way it was intended.

Sex and violence are the central tenets here and the relationship between bullfighting and both is explored, bringing the conclusion that both matador and afficionado, having made it such a part of their lives, are unable to live with or without death.

There's a simplicity to the story that belies Almodovars brilliance and I'd certainly say that after making this he went on to greater things. However, while it's not for the faint hearted or squeamish, and there are many flaws in the story
as a whole, it still knocks seven bells out of most of Hollywoods output.

Love and Death in Madrid
Long after mortal combat between man and beast disappeared from the rest of europe, Spain, uniquely, is still gripped by this primitive and complex ritual. La Corrida has a following that is incomprehensible to other cultures, both in terms of numbers of spectators and in intensity of its fascination. It is not even regarded as a sport but as a ritual emcompassing art, religion and a revelation of the Spanish psyche. Anyone who doubts this should go to a museum of La Corrida.

Almodovar touches the darkest heart of this in his film. It is absolutely wrong to say that the part played by Banderas is irrelevant, because his tortured and guilt-ridden character provides the link between the heart of the Christian myth, centred as it is on the public, cruel and humiliating death of its central figure, and the noble and reverential sacrifice of the beast at the hands of a man in the presence of los aficionados [and on live TV].

The Spanish have held these two myths, man murders God and man sacrifices the animal, in the forefront of their racial conciousness. Both promise salvation. Almodovar explores this to the logical conclusion. The French call orgasm "le petit mort". Well, to the Spanish and Almodovar in this case, orgasm can be La Metanza, [The Killing], "Le Grand Mort", the apogee of human experience. Why else does the police office say, at the end, "I've never seen people looking so happy" ?

This film is Amodovar's hommage to his people's most complex relationship with themselves. It is beautifully realised.