All about my mother = Todo sobre mi madre [Widescreen]

Cecilia Roth plays Manuela, a single working mother whose life takes a tragic twist when her son is killed in a road accident after a performance of “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Manuela decides to return to Barcelona and confront her son’s missing father, hoping that by correcting the mistakes in her past she can find some hope of alleviating the anguish and despair of grief. In Barcelona Manuela finds herself integrated into a new family consisting of transvestite prostitute Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a HIV positive Catholic nun (Penelope Cruz), and the great actress Huma Roja (Marisa Paredes) whose performance as Blanche in “Streetcar” was so beloved by Manuela’s son. Almodovar’s earlier films were absurdist comedies about the sexual and cultural values of a Spain emerging from under Franco’s fascist rule. “All About My Mother” retains his comic surrealism, and the characters still inhabit a world where traditional gender and sexual differences are rendered meaningless, but the film is also a homage to great Hollywood melodrama and in particular the great female legends of the stage and screen. Manuela’s escape from grief occurs only when she can reclaim motherhood, but it is an ideal of motherhood and family not rooted in biology but in friendship and the acceptance of difference. This film says the world is harsh, ugly and unfair but that through the bonds humans make with one another it can also be warm, generous and beautiful. This loving tribute to women (in all their aspects) contains splendid cinematography by Affonso Beatto. (Awards: Winner of the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Winner of Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival) In Spanish with English subtitles.