Barnes & Noble

One of the most innovative directors to emerge during the 1980s, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar is at the top of his game with All About My Mother, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. With his customary panache, Almodóvar employs colorful characters and absurdist comedy to brighten a tragic story. Following the accidental death of her teenage son, hospital worker Manuela (Cecilia Roth) reads the boy's diary and learns of his unfulfilled desire to meet the father he never knew. This knowledge spurs Manuela to find her former lover, a quest that brings the grief-stricken mother in contact with her son's favorite actress (Marisa Parides), a beautiful, pregnant nun (Penelope Cruz), and an old acquaintance who's become a drag queen (Antonio San Juan). Almodóvar limns these troubled but sympathetic characters in rich detail and elicits sterling performances from a talented cast. In equal measures compassionate and campy, All About My Mother lovingly acknowledges society's oddballs and outcasts. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

{|Pedro Almodóvar|} directed this story of a woman and her circle of friends who find themselves suffering a variety of emotional crises. Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is a single mother who has raised her son, Esteban ({|Eloy Azorín|}), to adulthood on her own and has come to emotionally depend on him. One night, Manuela and Esteban take in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire; after the show, Esteban is struck and killed by a passing motorist as he dashes into the street to get an autograph from Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), who played Blanche. Emotionally devastated, Manuela relocates to Barcelona in hopes of finding her ex-husband (and Esteban's father), who is now working as a female impersonator. Manuela becomes reacquainted with old friend La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a transsexual, and is introduced to Sister Rosa ({|Penélope Cruz|}), a good-hearted nun who has to contend with her considerably more cynical mother ({|Rosa María Sardà|}). While looking for work, Manuela becomes acquainted with Huma Rojo. Huma, on the other hand, has troubles of her own, most involving her drug-addicted significant other, Nina ({|Candela Peña|}). Displaying Almodóvar's trademark visual style and a unusually strong sense of character-driven drama, Todo Sobre Mi Madre/All About My Mother received a highly anticipated theatrical run in Spain before winning the Best Director award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival; in 2000, Almodóvar would receive the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 043396332232
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Remastered, Subtitled
• Time: 1:41:00
• Sales Rank: 6,432

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Sony Picture Classics 10th Anniversary

DVD MENU