All About My Mother (1999)

Young Esteban wants to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by his mother Manuela.

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writer:

Pedro Almodóvar

Stars:

Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña

Won 1 Oscar. Another 57 wins & 38 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cecilia Roth	...	Manuela
Marisa Paredes	...	Huma Rojo
Candela Peña	...	Nina
Antonia San Juan	...	Agrado
Penélope Cruz	...	Hermana Rosa
Rosa Maria Sardà	...	Madre de Rosa (as Rosa María Sardá)
Fernando Fernán Gómez	...	Padre de Rosa
Toni Cantó	...	Lola
Eloy Azorín	...	Esteban
Carlos Lozano	...	Mario
Fernando Guillén	...	Doctor en 'Un tranvía llamado Deseo'
Manuel Morón	...	Doctor 1
José Luis Torrijo	...	Doctor 2
Juan José Otegui	...	Ginecólogo
Carmen Balagué

Storyline

Manuela is a hard-working single mom who has raised her son Esteban by herself since the time he was born. On his 17th birthday they go to the theater and after the show, Esteban tries to get the main actress' autograph but is run down on the street and dies. Manuela is beside herself with grief and decides to return to Barcelona to tell the boy's transgender father Lola, about the death of the son he never knew he had. He is nowhere to be found but Manuela does find an old friend, Agrado and meets up with a pregnant nun, Rosa. Together they form a life and become fast friends - until tragedy strikes again.

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Plot Keywords:

sex talk | friend | grief | birthday | actress | 

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Taglines:

Part of every woman is a mother/actress/saint/sinner. And part of every man is a woman. (English trailer)

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality including strong sexual dialogue, language and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures Classics

Country:

Spain France

Language:

Spanish Catalan

Release Date:

31 March 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

All About My Mother

Filming Locations:

Teatre Tívoli, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$89,515, 21 November 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$8,264,530, 9 July 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

El Deseo, Renn Productions, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pedro Almodóvar recreates the accident scene from John Cassavetes' Opening Night (1977) as the epicenter of the dramatic conflict.

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Quotes

Huma Rojo: But can you act?
Manuela: I can lie very well, and I'm used to improvising.

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Alternate Versions

Three minutes are cut from the US version. The total running time of the Spanish version is 104 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Miao Miao (2008)

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Soundtracks

Coral para mi pequeño y lejano pueblo
Written by Dino Saluzzi
Performed by Dino Saluzzi (bandoneon), Marc Johnson and José Saluzzi
Courtesy of ECM Records
(from "Cité de la musique" 1997)

User Reviews

A VERY PRIVATE UNIVERSE

Very few directors, since Bunuel, Fassbinder, Lindsay Anderson and Roman Polanski, have been able to translate their own, very private universes, to the screen. That is why, it divides audiences in such a radical way.

You love it or you hate it. I think, that is the final objective of an artist, to express their view, to give us their own version of the world we live in. It enriches us, it makes us more aware of the million faces of human nature. Thanks to Almodovar we're allowed to feel identified with, what we may consider, marginal characters. What a different experience is to sit through an Almodovar film and a Ron Howard film for instance. Almodovar remains, becomes part of us, Ron Howard's vanishes as we're leaving the movie theater.