Breathtaking Performances. - Todo sobre mi madre (2000) Discussion

[–] pacheco_25553 21 years ago

I agree with you. This is one of Almodovar's greatest film. All performances are excellent. And the direction of Almodovar is superb. Esteban's death is shoking and sad. The whole story is sad but at the end there is hope.

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[–] pacheco_25553 21 years ago

I agree with you. This is one of Almodovar's greatest film. All performances are excellent. And the direction of Almodovar is superb. Esteban's death is shoking and sad. The whole story is sad but at the end there is hope.

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[–] Darkmire 21 years ago

Maybe its just me but if you run following a car in a raining-dark night it is sure you are to die.( Especially in a film ;) ) So it was not shocking or sad...Maybe it's just me though...

Silence, is the sound of nature.

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[–] nelson__clark 21 years ago

Have to say, slightly simple view on the film (no offence). Despite what Esteban's doing - running after his idol, it's the way in which his death is filmed. The sound is subjectified by his mother and the images become Esteban's POV. This sits you right in the position of Esteban, as he slowly becomes unconscious. In effect it's witnessing how it is to die almost. It is emotionally shocking and the fact that Esteban's the narrator to this point brings the audience close to his character. Therefore it's sad! Your comments are quite flippant. IMDB is a valuable resource and people take comments on board. Don't waste people's time. Looked at a few of your other comments and frankly they're totally objective and quite useless. Maybe a bit more insight?

Also, what exactly is "silence, the sound of nature"? Pretentious!

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[–] Darkmire 21 years ago

Wow! You almost took it personally, sorry if i hit you in the soft spot.

"Despite what Esteban's doing - running after his idol, it's the way in which his death is filmed. The sound is subjectified by his mother and the images become Esteban's POV. This sits you right in the position of Esteban, as he slowly becomes unconscious. In effect it's witnessing how it is to die almost. It is emotionally shocking and the fact that Esteban's the narrator to this point brings the audience close to his character"

Yes, i understand what are you saying , watching Esteban's death from his POV might have been very powerful only IF i have found it shocking and reasonable. As i said, it was predictable , and , at least in my opinion , it wasnt something a smart person would do.

"Therefore it's sad!"

Opz...Sorry...It's my fault! Shame on me!

"Your comments are quite flippant. IMDB is a valuable resource and people take comments on board. Don't waste people's time. Looked at a few of your other comments and frankly they're totally objective and quite useless."

Ok , i can accept this, but i have many friends who find my comments valuable. Yours is an opinion and i will respect it.

" Also, what exactly is "silence, the sound of nature? "

It is a phrase from one of my poems. It is really hard for me to actually explain it, but my intention when writing it was to mean , no one is really alone. ( Some people said it also suits as an anti-capitalist statement, and it's ok. As David Lynch one said: " It makes me uncomfortable to talk about meanings and things. It's better not to know so much about what things mean. Because the meaning, it's a very personal thing and the meaning for me is different than the meaning for somebody else. " )

Silence, is the sound of nature.

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[–] fico_of_arboria 21 years ago

What is the comma for, though?

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[–] kkingsbu 20 years ago

To put a beat of silence into the line. It catches you off-guard and makes you notice that little silence.

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[–] star_angeline 21 years ago

When Manuela is on the train to Madrid and she's going through the tunel and that wonderful music starts to when the taxi stop.

I just love the light in the scene and the absolutely wonderful music.

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[–] 21 years ago

[deleted]

[–] emale12 20 years ago

The scene that completely broke my heart was when Penelope Cruz's character's Mother came to visit her. It wasn't so much her interaction with her daugther as much as it was the moment when she asked Manuela about her son, and Manuela's reaction after the Mother's departure. It was so heartwrenching, so primal in a sense. You can tell though some months have passed, Manuela's grief for her son was just as fresh as the begining of the film.
This reminds me of an episode of Six Feet Under that stood with me. Brenda (a girlfriend of one of the main characters) said something interesting. She said that we have names for people who lose their love ones...a person who loses their spouse is a widow or a widower, a person who loses their parents is an orphan, but we don't have a name for a person who loses a child, she said "i guess so horrible that it can not have a name"

Ray.

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[–] daria84 20 years ago

I have many favorite scenes. I'll say my 3 favorite:

1) When Lola comes to sister's Rosa funeral, and then Manuela explains it all to him/her (sorry haven't seen the movie in english so ?ll say the lines in spanish) "No puedes verle.. hace x meses lo atrepolló un auto, y lo mató!" That broke my heart.

2) When Agrado says to the whole audience that "Un tranvía llamado deseo" wouldn't be showing that night, and she "promises to entertain everybody telling the story of her life". that line she says "Una es más auténtica entre más se parece a lo que ha soñado de si misma" is my new slogan for my life.

3) When Esteban gets hits by the car, it's horrible and Manuela's reaction is overwhealming, it made me cry like a baby when she's yelling "HIJO MIO!!" and then goes to the hospital and the doctor says "we're so sorry.." and she starts crying again, it's horrible.

I truly believe that Cecilia Roth deserved an oscar for her perfomance, it was incredible and so real. You don't get to see those performances very often anymore, or this kind of movies.

Bitch.. you don't have a future.. ~ The Bride ~

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[–] BdeRWEST 20 years ago

i want to know how this movie won an academy award when the kid who played esetban couldn't act?? he sucked! maybe it just doesn't translate well, but this movie bored me. i did not care. sure, it was provocative and sexual, but nothing else. the gross implications that it was a sort of "streetcar named desire" are proposterous and unfounded, tenessee williams is rolling in his grave. also, the nun had sex with a transvestite? peshaw. i've tried seducing nuns, it isn't easy as it looks. probably harder WITH breasts.

by the way, i hate it when movies flash things like "THREE WEEKS LATER" or "TWO MONTHS LATER" on the screen

it grossly takes the viewer out of the film's context and forces them to remember they are watching a film, it depersonalizes the camera.

but beyond simply DOING that, the letters are never in the same place, sometimes in white in the middle of the screen, sometimes in red in the lower corner. ON TOP OF THAT, at the end of the film (which sucked), "TWO YEARS LATER" flashes on the screen,

but then manuela's voice-over starts (something else that desensitizes the viewer and makes him/her distance themselves from the film), and she says "IT HAS BEEN TWO YEARS..."

WHAT THE HECK?!?! it was totally unnecessary.

bad movie, two thumbs down

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[–] daria84 20 years ago

lost in translation...

learn spanish, watch it again, and come and tell me if this movie sucks. Or go and rent some american movies and be happy.

Bitch.. you don't have a future.. ~ The Bride ~

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[–] AvantGardener 20 years ago

Maneula's voice-over at the end isn't a distancing device--she's simply reading the letter she wrote to Huma and Agrado about her return. And come on, that "two years later" edit at the end of the film (with the reverse train) was BRILLIANT.

Michael

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[–] kos71ant 19 years ago

@bderwest
So, what you didn't like is that:
1. The story isn't as good as one of the greatest classic films of all times, based on a great play (A streetcar named desire). Well, coming even close to that, isn't that bad at all.
2. The letters which help us with the timeline are not in the same place and color,

and basically for these reasons this was a "bad movie, two thumbs down".

No wonder that with remarks like these you didn't succeed in seducing any nuns!

The more I learn, the less I understand

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