Broken Embraces

Cecil says: I must confess I am not a fan of films about film-making. They seem so self-indulgent and really only speak to people who work in the film industry. So I was disappointed to come away from Almodovar's latest thinking just that.

The plot in a nutshell: film director has an accident which blinds him and after the accident he carries on his life as a completely different character: Harry Caine, the blind writer. Everyone goes along with this new character, new name, new personality, but then someone comes back on the scene from the film director's former life to blur the boundaries and challenges everything. The film switches back and forth between the present and the past so that we gradually put together the story of what happened in the run up to the accident and we see how Harry Caine deals with what comes to light.

The trouble is, although it was quite interesting to see how the two lives joined together, the film itself did drag on. It felt like it hadn't been edited enough and some of the scenes could easily have been left out. Well over two hours long and could have been 90 minutes. Is there an irony there or was it Almodovar's intention, given that the final point of the film is all to do with poor editing of the director's last film?

I hadn't seen an Almodovar film for over 20 years. I know, I missed loads and I'm trying to remember why I stopped wanting to go to them. Maybe it's because he does just talk about himself too much: that period when he was expressing all the unconventional sides of his personality which made films like 'The law of desire' so powerful had become almost boring by 'High heels'.

Ultimately, I didn't care about any of the characters; and I was looking at my watch with half an hour to go. Not a great advertisement for a film, I'm afraid. Or was I just hungry for my dinner?

**

Bea says: Hear, hear. "All About My Mother" was the last Almodovar film I saw, and although I enjoyed it at the time it wasn't memorable. I liked the slow unravelling/untangling of the story in this film, although I could guess a lot of what was about to happen. I also liked the beautiful colours of the character's flats and the striking black beach of the island the protagonists visit - it is a beautiful film to watch. There is some interesting depth to the film - we talked a while afterward trying to tease out what Almodovar might have been trying to say. But boringly like Cecil, I didn't like the film-within-a-film plot, or the length - perhaps Cecil and I made a mistake going to see this before rather than after dinner! I won't be in a rush to see another Almodovar, but I wouldn't object either.
**

The Time Traveler's Wife

Bea says: I was keen to see this as I had very much enjoyed the book (although enjoying a book certainly doesn't always make for an enjoyable film), and in fact had thought at the time of reading Audrey Niffeneger's novel that it would make a good film. This adaptation is relatively true to the original story, although noticeably less dark, which I felt was a shame as the darkness of the book casts the potential soppiness - for want of a better word - of the love story into relief; the film loses much of this contrast. Neither lead actor was particularly familiar to me, although they both carried their parts off well, and the potential pitfalls of the disappearing, time travelling husband were avoided: as in the book, it becomes totally believable. I might have thought this was really good, if I hadn't watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button recently (on the plane journey home from Australia), which deals with a similar theme so much better, and so much more beautifully.
***

Cecil says: My main problem for the first half hour was distinguishing between the 'really old' guy in his mid-30s and the apparently younger guy of the moment, who must have been - ooh, let's see - 25. They apparently put grey highlights through the older guy's hair but blow me if you can tell the difference; so I had no idea really if she married the man she was supposed to or the time-travelling oldie.

OK, continuity apart, this film has a nice story and the film kept me happily entertained for an hour and a half, without ever feeling any real affinity or involvement with the characters. I must admit I struggle to engage with this kind of 'what if' scenario. Bit like Back to the Future or Doctor Who - can be rip-roaring stuff, but not a lot of meaning...

I did reflect on one incident, however, as it had an echo of something very personal and painful from my own experience in the last few months. How often in life do you know deep down that this is the last time you will ever see a person? or that they are about to die? It happens in The Time Traveler's Wife and it happened to me 6 weeks ago at the bedside of my father as I left him to return to London for the last time before he died. Unimaginably difficult moments in one's life which you hope will never happen again. So, yes, this scene did bring a tear to my eyes, but I'm not sure it would have been the weepie film it was billed as if it had not been for my recent personal experience.

***