Highheels = High heels = Tacones lejanos

Victoria Abril plays Rebecca Giner, a woman abandoned by her mother fifteen years ago who takes up with her Mum’s former lover, Manuel. But Rebecca’s mother is also one of Spain’s biggest singing stars and when Manuel is murdered, mother and daughter need to reconcile in order to uncover the secret’s behind the dead man’s assassination. As in most of Almodovar’s exuberant comedies, “High heels” is a celebration of women: women as stars, as mothers, as daughters and even women as men. His highly camp but extremelly stylish and emotionally operatic films have been instrumental in transforming our understanding of contemporary Spanish culture. Alomodovar’s films stand opposed to the moralism and dour poverty of the Franco regime; he fills his urban chaotic landscapes with a rich assortment of pleasure-seeking junkies, drag queens and eccentrics. In Almodovar’s universe the only moral laws are to not judge, and to love. In “High heels” the dysfunctional relationship between Rebecca and her mother comes good once both of them give themselves over to the perverse delights of gender, social and class confusion. Abril’s costumes are by Chanel and the music score is by Ryuichi Sakamoto. In Spanish with English subtitles.