All About My Mother

After the death of her beloved teenage son in an accident, Roth leaves Madrid for Barcelona to cope with her grief, hook up with old friends, and - just maybe - contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. As she gradually regains the will to live through her involvement with the lives of others (including her son's favourite stage diva Paredes), Almodóvar piles on the coincidences, contrivances and twists so that the film succeeds best as a beautifully crafted, semi-ironic melodrama (it cleverly alludes to - and integrates - All About Eve, Streetcar..., Capote, etc). Though the film has a fair share of camp humour, it's the formal and emotional sophistication that really impresses; like Live Flesh, it displays a depth and maturity lacking in Almodóvar's earlier work.