Bold and bright colors, deep and moving music, crazy and extreme love, and conflicting perspectives, this is Pedro Almodóvar's film. He is a national treasure of the Spanish film industry, an outlier in the film industry. His films are deep, but not dark, good-looking, but not commercial. However, "Broken Embrace" was not as good as I expected.
"Broken Embrace" is Almodóvar's 17th film, released in May 2009. The content of the film is divided into two event lines, telling about the love between the four people and the sons of the two parties, in this intricate, love-hate entanglement, their respective growth processes. The story of "Broken Embrace" began in 2008, and the protagonist Otima Blanco is a blind writer whose main job is to write the screenplay for the film. Before going blind, Otima was originally a film director, but after he lost his sight in a car accident in 1994, he became a full-time playwright, and no longer used his real name, using the pseudonym Harry Kane instead.
Judy is a well-known female producer who has long served as Otima's agent. Judy's son Diego served as Otima's assistant, helping him take care of the practical affairs of writing and the chores of life. Recently, Otima expressed to Judy that he wanted to write a script that would describe a son's admiration and tolerance for his ruthless father. Judy was noncommittal about this. On the other hand, Diego's story to Otimati about the vampire that started with the blood donation cart started off quite smoothly.
One day, Otima read about the death of rich businessman Ernasto Martel in the newspaper. Otima, who wanted to completely seal the past, had to let Diego die after Ernasto's son visited and asked him to make a script for the movie he was about to shoot, a script about his son's revenge on his dead father Dig out old photos that have long since been torn to shreds. Facing the broken photos, Otima re-opened the past in front of Diego, and brought the time back to 1994, the year when his life was completely shattered.
In 1994, Otima was in the process of making his sixth film and his first comedy, The Girl and the Suitcase. One day, a beautiful and unforgettable woman came to visit and wanted to audition for the heroine of the film. This woman is called Lena, the mistress of the rich merchant Ernest. Accompanying her was a young man with big glasses, a younger sister's head, and a face full of youthful beans. This young man is Ernest's son, is interested in film work, and is a homosexual who never leaves the camera. Ernest never liked the son, but was madly in love with Lena. Lena committed herself to Ernest because her father suffered from stomach cancer two years ago.
Despite the unsatisfactory first audition, Ultima chose Lena as the heroine. Despite all his reluctance, Ernest agreed to let Lena make the film and financed the filming. One requirement, though, was that Ernest's son had to stay on set and shoot as many scenes as he wanted without interfering with the work on site. Every night, Ernast took a clip of his son at home, with a lip-reader interpreting the conversation between Lena and Ultima. Ernest couldn't stand anyone approaching Lena at all.
One is a talented young director, and the other is a glamorous and sexy beauty, and a relationship quickly develops between the two. Since Ernest's son was always watching the scene, the two could only find ways to secretly meet. However, after all, the paper couldn't contain the fire. Ernest still found out that there was an affair between the two by interpreting the private conversation between the two on the set, and also knew that Lena was actually disgusted by herself, and it was impossible. Say yes to your repeated requests for marriage. In this regard, Lena was the first to attack. When Lena came out of the tryst and saw Ernest's son standing outside the door for filming, she resolutely confronted Ernest and demanded a breakup. Ignoring Ernest's pleading, Lena turned around and was about to leave. At this moment, Ernest stretched out his hand and pushed Lena down the stairs.
Lena wasn't dead after rolling down the two-story stairs. Ernest immediately took Lena to the hospital, where a closer examination revealed only a broken leg. Lena decides to make a deal with Ernest, she keeps silent about the truth of the matter and continues to be with him. He must continue to finance the filming and let Otima decide all the shooting arrangements. In this way, Otima revised the script, cooperated with Lena's plastered leg, and finished the film smoothly. But just before filming was finished and editing began, Lena and Ernest had a big fight. As a last resort, Lena eloped with Otima with a whole body of injuries and hid.
Ernast frantically searched for these two people everywhere. In a fit of rage, Ernast edited the film randomly, dubbed it casually, and released it immediately. On the one hand, they want to completely destroy these two people, and on the other hand, they want to force them to show their faces. Two days after the film's release, Otima and Lena read about the film's performance and the overwhelming negative reviews in the newspapers. Otima couldn't bear it anymore. He kept calling Judy and the editor, but no one responded. He left a message on Judy's answering machine, asking her to call back as soon as possible to contact Harry Kane, who was staying at the hotel. This is his pseudonym registered here. That night, as Ortima and Lena were driving from the restaurant back to the hotel, a car hit the middle and Lena died on the spot, leaving Ortima blind.
Ortima lying on the hospital bed did not respond to the sound of calling his name. In his heart, Ortima no longer existed. He was Harry Kane, a person who had nothing to do with the past. After Judy completed the discharge procedures for Otima, he left him and the young Diego on the beach, and returned to the hotel where Otima was temporarily staying to pack and check out. Judy found a large bag of photos in the room, but unfortunately, all the photos have been torn to shreds. Back at the beach, when Judy hesitantly called out "Harry" to Otima's back, Otima responded briskly, then took Diego's little hand and walked towards Judy. It's a new beginning, for all three.
When Otima finished his story, Diego put together a complete picture from the photo fragments on a table, which is a picture of Otima and Lena embracing, young, happy, and full of A happy smile, unfortunately, is a broken hug. When Diego asked Otima why "Girls and Suitcases" was rushed and put on the air after he and Lena left 14 years ago? Otima said he didn't know either, a question he never asked. Judy decides to tell the truth.
When Judy, who came back from a business trip, heard that Diego called Harry by Otama, she decided to reveal the guilt that had been buried for 14 years in front of the two of them. At the time, a pissed off Ernest wanted to destroy The Girl and the Suitcase, but it couldn't be done without the help of Judy and the editor. So Ernest wanted to pay for the two. Although Judy is not moved by money, she is extremely angry about Utima's reckless abandonment of everything and leaving with Lena. Just under the emotions of jealousy and resentment, she decides to let Ernest go. Feel free to manipulate the film and make a ridiculous film as a satire of Ultima and Lena's love. Also, what made Judy most guilty was that she told Ernast the whereabouts of Ultima's message on her answering machine. That night, Ernest sent his son to track them, and the two had a car accident under the stalking of Ernest's son.
After listening to Judy's explanation, Otima just said lightly that there is no need to feel guilty anymore, 14 years of self-blame is enough. However, at this time, Otima decided to go to Ernest's son the next day to get justice for Lena and himself. The next morning, when Judy was sitting at the dining table, facing the hearty breakfast that Diego had prepared, she decided to tell another secret, that Otima was Diego's biological father, but for her self-esteem, she never Tell Otima and Diego. Diego was amazed by this secret, but more joyous. After all, Otima has been by his side for so many years, accompanying him like a father growing up. He is both adoring and tolerant towards Otima. .
At this moment, Otima has come to Ernest's son. He believes that Ernest's son murdered Lena and made him blind. He took this as a threat to get back all the original film of "The Girl and the Suitcase" at that time, re-editing and production, and also asked Ernast's son to spend a lot of money to fund the film's rerun. However, Ernest's son told him that his father had destroyed all the films before his death. When Otima was overwhelmed with anger, Judy called in a timely manner and told Otima that all the original films were properly kept by her and he could reprocess them immediately. Meanwhile, Ernest's son yells to Ultramar who is standing in front of his camera: "Ultima and Ernast" ends. At the same time, he handed a CD to Otima, saying that it could prove that Otima and Lena's car accident had nothing to do with him.
Diego sat next to Otima, watching the video on the wall, while explaining to Otima what was being played. This is the film that Ernest's son stalked Otima and Lena that night. Ernest's son drove the car and slowly followed Otima and the others. Through the headlights of the car, the camera mounted on the right passenger seat was carefully recording Otima and Lay. Na's every move. Otima and Lena, who were unaware of the car behind them, hugged and kissed naturally while driving the car. Afterwards, I saw a black car that came quickly from the right side and hit the car of the two of them. The film also captures Ernest's son rushing out of the car, looking at the scene of the accident in panic, and calling for help. This car accident was indeed an accident. Not only was Ernest's son not the murderer, he also saved Otima.
Otima stood in front of the screen on the wall, letting Diego slowly play the last scene of Otima and Lena hugging, frame by frame, and he stretched his hands to embrace this last happy hour.
In the end, Ortima, Judy, and Diego sit together in front of the film editing equipment, watching the re-edited clips on the computer screen. "The Girl and the Suitcase" is presented to the audience for the first time in "Broken Embrace" in full form. The content is humorous, smooth and natural. At this time, Otima hesitated whether to continue to remake the film, while Diego was firmly encouraging Otima, and he couldn’t wait to see the follow-up development of the plot.
of the Play> In "Broken Embrace", Almodovar contrasts and satires with the simultaneous development of drama and reality, comedy and tragedy. In the movie, the characters are filming the comedy "Girl and the Suitcase", but they have a tragedy in real life. At the beginning of the movie, Otima wanted to write a script about the kind-hearted son's worship and tolerance for a ruthless father. In fact, his own son Diego also held endless worship and tolerance for his unknowing father. Heart. Ernest's son wanted to make a film to take revenge on his father, and along the way, the documentary films he shot one after another not only restored the truth of the matter, but also exacted revenge on his father. At the end of the film, when the tragedy "Broken Embrace" ends, the comedy "Girl and Suitcase" begins.
Color has always been one of the hallmarks of Almodóvar's films. High-saturation red, orange, and yellow are always widely used in backgrounds, clothing, makeup and accessories. In "Broken Embrace" this element still persists. In addition, Almodovar, known as the "Master of Desire", still boldly shows nudity and passion in the film. The usual deviant and unconventional love is shown in Ernest. However, unlike "My Mother" and "Whispering to Her", Almodóvar in "Broken Embrace" focuses more on the use of editing techniques to form conflicts and contrasts in life, while other plays are more Most of them use the fate and character of the characters in the film to show the chaos of life and the extreme of love. I personally prefer his previous works. In contrast, the storyline of "Broken Embrace" is more mediocre, about the crazy love and tragedy between ordinary men and women. As for the technical aspects, the same technique has already been used in other films. In "Broken Embrace", Almodovar seems to have not mastered enough rhythm. It is difficult for the audience to feel the suspense and conflict. Many facts that should be revealed at the end can be easily seen at the beginning. guess or guess. All in all, "Broken Embrace" is a good, but not stunning film.
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