Let's take that a step farther and say he loves women and he loves what it is to be a woman, even if you happen to be a man. The Spanish director's newest film, All About My Mother , is a poignant and touching tale of tangled female relationships and maternal instincts. An accident on a rain-soaked night in Madrid forces her to revive old memories and retrace painful footsteps. The movie has already won a Golden Globe and is an odds'-on favorite for the other one, the one named Oscar. Almodovar here gets it right.
Pain leaves an imprint.
It lingers, stays underneath the heart and with time and new experiences is transformed, given meaning. In the flash of a second, the world Manuela built for herself shatters. Almodovar pays tribute to the classic backstage drama of All About Eve and chain-smoking Bette Davis, and central to his plot are the tragic Southern sisters Blanche and Stella of Streetcar Named Desire . It's more than a nice touch or a directorial homage to pop female icons. For the African-American students who integrated Little Rock's Central High School back in 1957, the second year was unendurable.