Very looseley based on the Ruth Rendall book Live Flesh, the film by Pedro Almodovar is a tense tale of obsession, love and betrayal. All the elements that make a happy marriage.
Almodovar, if you are unaware, has a trademark on films which are fully charged with sexual ferocity and eroticsim. I fail to recall a movie that he has made which is not related to sex in any way, and yet he has pursued and maintained an ability to make his films seem individual and fresh. I saw this film many moons ago, and recently purchased it on DVD and decided to refresh my memory.
Live Flesh begins with a character, Victor, who has had a rather limp one night stand. For him it was like making love, the one night stand has had better and isn’t interested. Unfortunately for her, Victor decides that he is in love with her and begins to stalk her with dire consequences.
Two policemen on routine patrol are surveying the area when they hear a gun shot report on their radio. The two cops have known eaach other well. One a young, good looking buy. The other, an alcoholic who beats his wife, and is convinced she is fornicating with someone behind his back – and even if she wasn’t, he’s too drunk and paranoid to think differently.
The gunshot is the one night stand trying to get Victor out of her place. He isn’t trying to be difficult, but his obsession with her has become obvious and dangerous. Elena, the one night stand, is now scared for a her life, but Victor is able to restrain himself and is ready to leave after her screaming and insulting. That is, until the cops show up and all the surrounding shit hits the veritble fan spreading the muck across the room and covering Victor in the deepest shit imaginable.
In what becomes a compressed and tense situation with guns pointed everywhere, Elena is dumb struck by the danger she has suddenly become involved in. As she escapes, she turns back to hear another gun shot. The good looking cop has been shot, and all fingers point to Victor. he of course denies this, and in the chaotic ensenble, Victor is sent to prison.
Life has changed since Victor went to prison. Everyone he knew had gone, his home is now a derelict squat. He has been studying while in prison, and has bettered himself. Victor seems more at peace with himself, that is until he sees Elena by chance once more. Of course, this is a Almodovor film and having a single love triangle would not suffice.
The acting is excellent with each person playing their characters to a tee. The writing is well crafted creating both tension and passion, camera work shows the morbid and rather quaint surroundings in which Victor lives on compared to the better surroundings of the cop that got shot (who now lives as a successful cripple). As ever, Almodovor has created another entertaining and sexually obsessive film, touching on human character and failures as well as the furious fire of jealousy.
Verdict: Typical Almodovor, but uniquely different. Recommended.