COMPELLING 'FLOWER' APPROACHES FULL BLOOM\A relief from director's usual melodramatics.Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic Spanish bad boy Pedro Almodovar ("Women on the Verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of a Nervous Breakdown," "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!") is on his best behavior with his newest feature, "The Flower of My Secret." Not only are the film's outrageous elements downright tame compared to such usual Almodovar transgressions as bondage, rape and felonious Done with an intent to commit a serious crime or a felony; done with an evil heart or purpose; malicious; wicked; villainous. An aggravated assault, such as an assault with an intent to murder, is a felonious assault. passion. "Flower" is a serious departure from the director's usual florid florid /flor·id/ (flor´id) 1. in full bloom; occurring in fully developed form. 2. having a bright red color. flor·id adj. Of a bright red or ruddy color. , campy melodramatics mel·o·dra·mat·ics n. 1. (used with a sing. verb) Melodramatic theatrical performance. 2. (used with a pl. verb) Exaggeratedly emotional behavior; histrionics. . Like other Almodovars, "Flower" is a soap opera, but it's an unusually sensitive and compelling one; he seems to relate more than ever to his heroine's emotional agony, and controls his tendency for arch ridicule. Marisa Paredes plays Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. , a middle-age Madrid writer who is secretly Amanda Gris, author of a popular series of dopey romance novels. Leo, however, is not feeling very romantic at the moment. Her husband, Paco (Imanol Arias), has gotten himself attached to NATO's diplomatic effort in Bosnia - mainly to get away from her neurotic, smothering smothering death by asphyxiation. Occurs where poultry are carelessly herded into a corner where they cannot escape and where they are piled four or five birds deep; they will die of asphyxia very quickly. See also crowding. love. Suspecting but unable to accept the fact that her marriage is dead, Leo fills the latest Gris novel with darkness and pessimism - much to the horror of her publishers, whose contract calls for light, fluffy fantasy. Under yet another pen name, Leo starts writing scathing reviews of her own books for a newspaper literary supplement. Its portly port·ly adj. port·li·er, port·li·est 1. Comfortably stout; corpulent. See Synonyms at fat. 2. Archaic Stately; majestic; imposing. [From port5. editor, Angel (Juan Echanove), loves both "Amanda's" novels and Leo herself. But all she can do is pine for her distant Paco, even after the diplomat finally gets up the gumption to tell her that he has no intention of ever getting any closer. Paredes is remarkably moving as a woman well beyond the verge. Constantly overwrought, sometimes embarrassing in her alcohol and pharmaceutical-induced sorrows, Leo could have been a typical Almodovar comic heroine. But Paredes really brings out Leo's battered, tensile inner dignity - she's determined to achieve some deep kind of honesty through her suffering - and the actress has a graceful bearing that lends the character integrity despite her penchant for self-debasement. Usual Almodovar suspects Rossy De Palma Palma or Palma de Mallorca (päl`mä thā mälyôr`kä), city (1990 pop. 325,120), capital of Majorca island and of Baleares prov., Spain, on the Bay of Palma. and Chus Lampreave play Leo's combative sister and mother; they, like everyone else in the movie, are living some kind of lie that makes them miserable. The "Flower" of the title seems to be the therapeutic effect of tackling one's heartaches with the medicine of truth. That's something you don't read in a romance novel, nor see at the movies, every day. THE FACTS The film: "The Flower of My Secret" (R; language, drug use). The stars: Marisa Paredes, Juan Echanove, Imanol Arias, Rossy De Palma, Chus Lampreave. Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar. Produced by Agustin Almodovar. Released by Sony Pictures Classics. Running time: One hour, 48 minutes. Playing:Royal, West Los Angeles
Our rating: Three Stars. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo In "The Flower of My Secret," Rossy De Palma, left, and Chus Lampreave play a combative sister and mother living a lie. |
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