The drama that had been explored in the erstwhile comedic TACONES LEJANOS takes center stage in Pedro Almodovar's LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO (THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET as it's known in English, even when "flower" is at the same time a literal misnomer and a symbolic term). Of course, it's not without some incursions into mis-direction. At first, it seems that it's going to be a drama about a mother (Kiti Manver) who is informed that her sixteen-year old son has become brain-dead following a motorcycle accident. It takes time for the mother to realize that her son will no longer be with her. The doctors (one of them Jordi Molla) go on and tell her they need his organs to use in transplants. The mother worries that the organs will go to the wrong bodies... and then it pans to reveal this is just a demo film that intends to show how doctors should react to a situation should it present itself. The organizer of this event is Betty (Carmen Elias), who is Leo Macias' (Marisa Paredes) best friend.
And here is when we get introduced to Leo (and the story), proper: dressed like a bag lady, she has wandered out into the streets wearing her husband Paco's (Imanol Arias) boots. The reason? Well, he's left her, she has realized her marriage is a failure, and to top it all, she has taken to wearing his boots while typing about it. The catch is, they're too tight. Which leads her to the seminar Betty is in the middle of (the scene at the start of the film) and their banter about Leo's husband. This will reveal some shared issues one of the women ignores, but that's not where Almodovar wants to go. Leo reveals herself to be a romance novelist who goes by the pseudonym Amanda Gris -- a Spanish version of Nora Roberts -- who's written a completely bleak novel that her publishing agency will not take. After all, the public wants Amanda Gris and demands romance, nothing else.
Which has Leo take a job in a magazine run by Betty's gay friend Angel (Juan Echanove). Angel loves Amanda Gris; she presents a critic which stabs at Gris' work, a thing Angel admires. Angel himself states he will act as a counter-critic, a foil of sorts, to Leo's attack on Gris. Both form an unlikely friendship that approaches Leo's pain at a tentative level until Paco's arrival (and some crucial denouements) bring Angel and Leo a lot more closer than they thought they would be.
LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO moves at a meandering pace -- almost free-floating, barely dependent on plot and heavy on the use of dialogue. For some, this is an irritating departure of Almodovar's more compact stories -- it's as if he wasn't sure where he was going and decided to take Leo's plight and add on as he went deeper into his story. However, this change of pace and style is important to see Leo as a fractured woman. The mother at the start of the movie whose son is brain-dead is only but a parallel of Leo's own attitude towards her dead marriage -- one she pathetically tries to salvage. Until now, she has seen her life reflected in another man who has alienated himself from her, using his military position as an excuse. When her attempt backfires, she tries to go the way out... but life has more in store for Leo.
Here is where Almodovar's story really starts to bloom like the "flower" of his title. Almodovar clearly identifies with Leo in her dual role as woman scorned who has to find her way back, and critic who questions the nature of these pulp stories Amanda Gris writes. I would go on and even say that his love for these women is so strong, it wouldn't even be too wild to suggest Angel is his physical stand-in and in a lesser way, the supporting character of Antonio (Joaquin Cortes). Antonio's storyline moves at a parallel level with Leo's and describes the immense love he feels for his mother Blanca (Manuela Vargas), Leo's maid who moonlights as a flamenco dancer. He commits an act of theft which grants them the economic freedom to continue their dance act, and their flamenco sequence is a thing of ferocious beauty. In this, LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO is the first story that incorporates a selfless act of love that goes beyond physical desire, and it shows a director who is okay with not showing comic zaniness in lieu of thoughtful drama that only occasionally has moments of explosive passion.
And here is when we get introduced to Leo (and the story), proper: dressed like a bag lady, she has wandered out into the streets wearing her husband Paco's (Imanol Arias) boots. The reason? Well, he's left her, she has realized her marriage is a failure, and to top it all, she has taken to wearing his boots while typing about it. The catch is, they're too tight. Which leads her to the seminar Betty is in the middle of (the scene at the start of the film) and their banter about Leo's husband. This will reveal some shared issues one of the women ignores, but that's not where Almodovar wants to go. Leo reveals herself to be a romance novelist who goes by the pseudonym Amanda Gris -- a Spanish version of Nora Roberts -- who's written a completely bleak novel that her publishing agency will not take. After all, the public wants Amanda Gris and demands romance, nothing else.
Which has Leo take a job in a magazine run by Betty's gay friend Angel (Juan Echanove). Angel loves Amanda Gris; she presents a critic which stabs at Gris' work, a thing Angel admires. Angel himself states he will act as a counter-critic, a foil of sorts, to Leo's attack on Gris. Both form an unlikely friendship that approaches Leo's pain at a tentative level until Paco's arrival (and some crucial denouements) bring Angel and Leo a lot more closer than they thought they would be.
LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO moves at a meandering pace -- almost free-floating, barely dependent on plot and heavy on the use of dialogue. For some, this is an irritating departure of Almodovar's more compact stories -- it's as if he wasn't sure where he was going and decided to take Leo's plight and add on as he went deeper into his story. However, this change of pace and style is important to see Leo as a fractured woman. The mother at the start of the movie whose son is brain-dead is only but a parallel of Leo's own attitude towards her dead marriage -- one she pathetically tries to salvage. Until now, she has seen her life reflected in another man who has alienated himself from her, using his military position as an excuse. When her attempt backfires, she tries to go the way out... but life has more in store for Leo.
Here is where Almodovar's story really starts to bloom like the "flower" of his title. Almodovar clearly identifies with Leo in her dual role as woman scorned who has to find her way back, and critic who questions the nature of these pulp stories Amanda Gris writes. I would go on and even say that his love for these women is so strong, it wouldn't even be too wild to suggest Angel is his physical stand-in and in a lesser way, the supporting character of Antonio (Joaquin Cortes). Antonio's storyline moves at a parallel level with Leo's and describes the immense love he feels for his mother Blanca (Manuela Vargas), Leo's maid who moonlights as a flamenco dancer. He commits an act of theft which grants them the economic freedom to continue their dance act, and their flamenco sequence is a thing of ferocious beauty. In this, LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO is the first story that incorporates a selfless act of love that goes beyond physical desire, and it shows a director who is okay with not showing comic zaniness in lieu of thoughtful drama that only occasionally has moments of explosive passion.