Tacones lejanos

Plot synopsis:
Rebeca, a TV news broadcaster, is at Madrid's airport anxiously awaiting the return of her mother whom she has not seen since she was a child. Her mother, Becky del Páramo, a famous torch song singer, is coming back to Spain after a fifteen-year stay in Mexico. While waiting, Rebeca recalls incidents from her childhood in which her mother left her in the background of her life preoccupied with her career and her romantic life. For fifteen years Rebeca has longed for her mother to come back and for the love and affection of which she had been deprived. Nevertheless, her love is accompanied by a deep resentment.
Rebeca has since become a newsreader for a private television station owned by her husband Manuel. The reunion of mother and daughter is even tenser because Manuel was many years ago one of Becky's lovers. The night of her return, Becky, Rebeca and Manuel have supper and then go out to see Letal, a female impersonator whose drag act is based on Becky. For sometime, Rebeca has been coming to see the show whenever she misses her mother. Backstage, Rebeca helps Letal to remove his costume. Kneeling in front of him as she helps him undress, she is impressed by his manliness. Letal takes advantage of the situation and they make love. Manuel, who no longer loves his wife, wants to sleep with Becky again and divorce Rebeca.
A month later, Manuel is murdered in his villa. He had spent the evening first with his mistress Isabel, who is the sign language interpreter of Rebeca's words on the news, and then with Becky who, having become his lover again has learnt he had another mistress and had come to announce it was over between them. It was Rebeca who discovered the body. The investigating magistrate, Judge Dominguez, centers his suspicions on the mother and daughter whose relationship he knows has not recovered since Rebeca found out Becky was seeing Manuel.
On the day of Manuel's funeral, while reading the news of his death, Rebeca confesses to the murder live on television. She is immediately imprisoned but the investigating judge seems desperate to prove her innocence despite all the evidence. Becky makes her return to the Madrid stage while Rebeca spends her first night in prison. In jail, she listens on the radio to a triumphant Madrid concert performance of her mother who dedicates her first songs to her. Paula, the social worker, takes a special interest in Rebeca; like her, she is heartbroken, grieving the loss of Hugo, her boyfriend. A nude picture of Hugo that Paula carries with her makes Rebeca think that Letal and Hugo are the same person. The judge arranges for Becky to see her daughter, and Rebeca now denies the murder of Manuel. Mother and daughter confess to each other their lack of love, their jealousy, and their secrets. Rebeca draws a comparison between herself and the daughter in the film Autumn Sonata in which the girl's mother, an outstanding pianist, asks her to play the piano and then humiliates her by telling her how to improve her performance. Rebeca suggests that she too has always felt inferior to Becky and has been forced to compete with her, winning only once by marrying Manuel. But even this victory was finally denied her, when Becky started an affair with Manuel. If Rebeca's desire to be closer to Becky led her, fifteen years ago, to murder her stepfather, it also played some part in her murder of Manuel, whom she sees as ousting in her mother's affection. The extent of Rebeca's fixation and the limitlessness of her adoration are too much for Becky's frail heart and her condition worsens. Back in prison, Rebeca discovers she is pregnant – carrying Letal's child. At once, the Judge releases her from prison but without any fresh evidence.
Rebeca goes to see Letal's final drag performance and in the dressing room discovers that he is the judge, Letal being one of the Judge's disguises and Hugo being another. He explains that his dressing up was not more than an investigative strategy and, knowing about her pregnancy, asks her to marry him. As Rebeca struggles to take this in, they see a TV broadcast relating Becky's sudden heart attack. They rush to the hospital. Rebeca confesses to her mother the murder of Manuel, and Becky decides to take the blame in order for her daughter to go free. Becky confesses to the murder and when she is taken home to die, Rebeca gives her the gun and Becky leaves her fingerprints on it, thereby incriminating herself and establishing Rebeca's innocence. When Rebeca sees the high heels of the women passing in the street, she tells her mother the sound of the heels from a distance reminds her of her mother coming home when she was little. She turns around and realizes her mother has died while she was talking.

Tags: melodrama, revenge, comedy, murder, flashback

Review:
I like the films made by director Pedro Almodóvar and 'Tacones Lejanos' ('High Heels') is no exception.
Although Almodóvar reached greatness with 'Todo Sobre Mi Madre' and especially 'Hable Con Ella', his earlier films like 'Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios' and this one are a lot of fun.
I guess there is nothing wrong with that.The story involves a daughter Rebeca (Victoria Abril), her famous mother Becky (Marisa Paredes) who returns to Spain after fifteen tears, a murder that could have been committed by Rebeca, Becky and a third suspect, Judge Domínguez (Miguel Bosé) who is on the case, and a lot of colorful supporting characters.
Although this films sounds like a drama, maybe a detective or a thriller even, it is closer to a comedy because of the way Almodóvar handles the absurd situations.
The whole scene, which is dramatic in what it tells us, is one of the best moments of comedy I have seen.Of course the themes here are really dramatic.
Not only we have the murder, we also have Rebeca who has wanted to impress her mother her entire life.
Almodóvar who loves to use bright colors finds an effective way here to use them, representing the state the character is in.
Great stuff here from Mr Almodovar, with Victoria Abril in full effect.
And they all break into song and dance too, way before Woody Allen tried it.Strange that this film is so little shown, given the popularity both of the earlier "Women on the Verge..." and the recent "All About My Mother".
Rebeca does and it has defined her life of trying to be somebody that her famous mother will notice.Rebeca and Becky's final realization of each other's own self finally comes in the unselfish gesture that defines motherhood -- sacrifice.Although this movie is listed as a drama, the madness surrounding most of Almodovar leading ladies is ever present.
I have seen almost all Almodovar films, as he is a unique and eccentric director with vision.
Maybe you have by now figured out I prefer other, more humorous and provokative Almodovar films.
Whatever the case, I should recommend this to people who saw other more exessive Almodovar films and didn't like it.
It's got a lot of the usual Almodovar stamps: high melodrama mixed with black comedy, insane coincidences, twisted relationships and of course dazzling use of color.
Early on the theme of mother-daughter rivalry reminded me of AUTUMN SONATA, so I was quite tickled to hear the relationship being directly compared to that film later on.
The movie doesn't have the magic of Almodovar's best works, perhaps because the performances as a whole aren't that impressive.
The out-of-nowhere prison dance scene is delightfully offbeat (although I felt like Almodovar was actually holding back a bit)..
They try to mend their broken mother/daughter relationship and deal with their common lover.Roger Ebert said that "Pedro Almodóvar's films are an acquired taste, and with High Heels I am at last beginning to acquire it." I can understand this.
This film happens to be one I liked, combining the Almodovar use of color with some interesting plot and character twists.I do not recall if I have seen Douglas Sirk's "Imitation of Life", which this film was in part inspired by.
An interesting mystery plot that is made a special film due to Almodovar's unique style of directing, his obsessions, his actresses and, maybe, above all the music investment.A District Attorney who performs queen-shows, a daughter in the shade of her mother's glory, a mother under the pressure of her own glory, both involved with the same man (who is involved with other women as well), a different aspect of the TV and a different use of the TV-set.
Abril is remarkable as the returning mother finding things turned upside down and ultimately doing it one or two better.
Released internationally as 'High Heels', the actual title of this Pedro Almodóvar comedy translates as 'Distant Heels', an idea of significance towards the end of the film as events take a sharp dramatic turn.
Whatever the case, summing up what exactly this film is about is not easy as it is an unpredictable ride throughout (in the best sort of way) with lots of surprise revelations and plot twists and turns; the characters also often do what we least expect of them.
In short, the film might be best thought of as Almodóvar's take on 'Autumn Sonata' - which even gets explicitly mentioned - as the plot focuses on a successful television news anchor and her resentment of her diva mother who traumatised her as a child.
Miguel Bosé also has one surefire interesting character that raises questions about personal identity and role-playing, which is part of what the film is about: the two female protagonists coming to accept their roles of mother and daughter, career aspirations and other concerns aside..
Pedro Almodovar is a good director and both High Heels and Women on the Board of a Nervous Breakdown held our class' interest, and did not disappoint us too badly with their endings..
This the only movie that I have seen of Almodovar.It is not a work that makes me jump of emotion, but it is a good history about murder, hate and pardon.Good performances and great music, but a little aggressive in some topics as the sex, but that doesn't remove a great roguery divided in each scene.There is something that i love of this movie and it is the first Miguel Bose appearance singing a song in a club.
And believe me, I sing that song the whole time.And there is another wonderful thing and is about the pardon between a mother and her daughter that had to live around an unconscious fight caused by a work.At the end she reconciles with her and they finish the long discussion with two heels that go away framing a great shade in the sick women wall.
I saw this movie the other day in a film school class, and I hadn't seen an Almodovar movie before but went in expecting it to be good.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pointless film with only a couple of laughs mixed in with two hours of sheer boredom.
High Heels is just a collection of random scenes that might have worked in their own separate movies but together don't add up to any kind of meaningful whole at all.Or so I thought.
Then, the next day, my film professor spent the entire class period explaining all of the movie's hidden little details, like how the mural depicting stereotypical flamenco dancers in the background of the drag queen scene is some kind of commentary on the lack of identity that Spain as a nation has developed under fascist rule.
Apparently, the whole movie is chock full of clever little visual tricks and references like this.Great, but you know what?
It takes more than depth and complexity to make a good film--you still need to give the audience a reason to keep paying attention, something to interest the viewer enough to actually care about all the subtle tricks.
High Heels gives us strange, off-beat characters but keeps them in mostly mundane situations recycled from other movies, and Almodovar doesn't seem to be using them to make any kind of point.
What is the significance, for example, of the Hitchcockian surprise character revelation that occurs towards the end of the film?
The rest of the movie is just nonsensical filmic references and visual cues that apparently exist only for the sake of showing us how smart Pedro Almodovar is.
But no matter what my film professor says, it takes more than self-indulgent trickery for a movie to be good..
Like a multilayered cake, filled with delicious flavors and rainbow colors that satisfy the palate and the eyes, this film is so round and perfect that it's impossible to think it could have been better.I saw it when it came out and tonight I saw it again for the second time, the impression was as fresh and fulfilling as the first time around.
The acting of both Marisa Paredes and Victoria Abril are true tour de force performances, something to be seen to believe it, although everybody in this film is picture perfect.
The cinematography, the editing, the acting, the sets, the music and the wardrobe, all top drawer.There are not as many humorous scenes here as in other Almodovar films, but they are as accomplished as any he has done before, and it must be very unfortunate for non Spanish speaking audiences because most of the humor is spoken, something totally untranslatable in subtitles, and that is something palpably noticed when reading some of the other reviews, that missed completely the totally Spanish flavor and humor.Marisa Paredes must have been something out of this world as a young woman because even here, in some close ups the perfection of her features are breathtaking and as an actress I'm convinced she must be one of the great ones, just incredible.Bibi Andersen (the tallest woman in the jail scenes) was at the time the best known female impersonator in Spain and he/she looks really stunning with a figure that any woman would gladly kill to have.I adore Almodovar film making, so to me this is his best film ever, but then I think the same about all the rest of his cinematography..
First Almodovar Film.
I was living in Cambridge which has a good Arts Film Circuit and it was cheap to go at the time.
It had drama and a style that was really unusual at the time, prefiguring the 60's retro of the mid 1990's onwards (we are almost out of it now) No i did not get the references to past films but now i have been made aware of them i shall look a bit harder.I have seen most of his films since and in general they do improve on most levels but this was so funny and hooked me, and my friend.
I Saw this film in my Spanish Cinema Class...In school....My Teacher Mr.Moore says that this is one of his favorite Pedro Almodovar movies...I think it was pretty good...Some of the parts were a little out there but then again there is always a part in his movies thats just  totally out there in some way.
I have to say that Pedro Almodovar is probably my favorite Spanish Director out there..
It might seem incredible to believe now that in the early 1990s Pedro Almodovar, now firmly one of the great directors, was thought to have lost his way.
With films like this and 'Kika', Almodovar was accused of believing his own hype, of taking the grand claims of auteurism too seriously, and forgetting about the things that had made him precious in the first place, the audacity, the iconoclasm, the fun.Now we can appreciate 'HIgh Heels' as a dry run for his masterpiece, 'All About My Mother', with which it shares some startling similarities - the daring colours, the rich compositions, the masterly camerawork; the central parent/child relationship; Marisa Parades as a performer; the themes of identity and imitation.
But, while hugely flawed, 'Heels' is also an entertaining film in its own right, full of (naturally) astounding acting, perverse plotting and a gloriously full, melodramatic score.What hampers the film is its reliance on genre.
Although ostensibly a typical Almodovar melodrama, visualising the emotional and sexual lives of his female characters, the plot is underpinned by a murder mystery.
His remarkable 'Live Flesh' shows how genre can be used for complex, non-generic ends, but he hasn't quite got there with 'Heels'.
The crime story is useful as a springboard, offsetting and bringing various crises and themes together, but just as the film is about to hit an emotional crescendo, it is weighed down by the need to tie up loose plot ends, so that a climax that should be moving and cathartic ends up in a grotesque haggling over guns and fingerprints.None of this is thematically irrelevant - the characters are as emotionally trapped as they are by generic circumstances; Paredes claiming Abril's murder, her transferring her fingerprints on the murder weapon, her dying for her daughter's sin in a religious parody, explicitely revealed in the final composition, framed and coloured like a sacred painting, all form part of the film's variations on family, the past and present, tradition and individuality, responsibility, anti-Oedipal struggles, and, especially, imitation, this latter embodied in the figure of the Judge, a man representing a monolithic institution, run by men (while the women languish in prison), who is in fact three (or more) people, his very existence a rejection of dogmatism, of the stable, certain, repressive - in the end he will marry and (unwittingly?) shield a murderer.
Truth even manages to subvert the fabrications of the media, with Abril's on-air confession, although its status as truth is automatically made suspect (anything said on telly couldn't possibly be true, could it?).The film is full of wonderful flourishes, in particular the musical sequences, a thrilling dance scene in the prison, heartbreaking torch songs at moments of drama-overspilling crisis.
Generally considered "lesser Almodovar" by many writer/critics, "Tacones Lejanos" is, in fact, one of the director's most stunning works.
Aldomovar deliberately crafted this film as "homage" to Douglas Sirk's "Imitation Of Life" and, more importantly, it's star -Lana Turner."Douglas Sirk's celebrated maternal melodrama "Imitation Of Life" also begins with a child lost at a holiday location...
And the multiple parallels between the two plots are clear: both focus on the life of a mother-performer, on maternal neglect, mother-daughter strife, and incestuous rivalry over a man: in "Tacones Lejanos" Rebeca will marry Becky's ex-lover.
And in the murder of a male lover shared by two women, Almodovar may also be drawing on press accounts of Turner's real-life drama which, famously and ambiguously, fed into one of her most commercially successful screen roles.
When Almodovar has Rebeca tell Becky "stop acting, mother!", he is signaling a quite explicit reference to "Imitation Of Life".When Victoria Abril's Rebeca opens her handbag, Almodovar cuts to a loving close-up of its Chanel label.
The production notes for "Imitation Of Life" also stress the importance of Lana Turner's gowns and jewels, valued at over a million dollars.At first sight, however, Almodovar seems merely to have retained and intensified Sirk's formalism while jettisoning his broader concerns but...
Aldomovar is insistent on the lack of irony in Sirk's films; curiously so when Sirk himself and most modern critics take ironic distance to be his most characteristic response to the melodramatic material he handled so skilfully." (From: "Critical Studies in Latin American and Iberian Cultures- Desire Unlimited, The Cinema of Pedro Almodovar") "La Lana" Turner was many things to many people- but here's the "self-referencial" in Madame's "Trash Yourself" oeuvre that Almodovar pays tribute to: LANA TURNER: The Lady & The Legend- "She started in Andy Hardy kid's stuff but soon dazzled audiences in films like "Ziegfeld Girl" & "Johnny Eager".
After the war, MGM turned up the heat, transitioning her to full-on glamorous movie star in films like "The Postman Always Rings Twice" & "The Bad And The Beautiful".In 1958, Lana picked a real doozie (of a lover): small-time hood and big-time ladies' man, Johnny Stompanato, a henchman for mobster Mickey Cohen.
The next day the world heard the news...The press build-up was pure Hollywood: Stompanato's funeral; Turner's insistence that he was an unwelcome presence in her life; his brother's announcement that Johnny was stabbed lying down.
The coup de grace came two days before the inquest when "Lanita's" love letters to her Johnny, filled with burning desires, were plastered across front pages worldwide -a little payback from Mickey Cohen, Stompanato's pal.Geisler got Cheryl excused from the inquest and that made Lana the star of the show.
Mickey Cohen griped to the press, "It's the first time in my life I've ever seen a dead man convicted of his own murder.
As the 50's neared a close ...the public created the happy ending they needed to see.And the world had one less cheap hood in it.And Lana Turner would carry on...
and continued to star in films of the 60's ...two of which, "Imitation Of Life" & "Madam X", drew shamelessly on her real-life troubles.P.S. the public loved them." (condensed from an article by Laurie Jacobson.) "Life With Lana": Three generations of women lived together, on and off, for a long time.
Often, diamond rings, bracelets and invective slashed the air as dinner plates flew- "Don't EVER forget who pays the bills around here -and if you don't like anything I do ...you can GET OUT!" Impotent and powerless, respectively, against that force of Nature, "La Lana" -they shut up and ate their din-din.This family dynamic (and it's consequences) is played out in variation to devastating effect in the Aldomovar film.HIGHLY recommended as a double-feature with the Sirk/Turner opus!.
Pedro Almodovar seems to be aiming for the excesses of female drama even in his future explorations of male passion, seen in films like CARNE TREMULA (LIVE FLESH) and LA MALA EDUCACION (BAD EDUCATION).
A hybrid caught between his lurid comedies of the Eighties and the darker, more textured dramas that would present him in a more mature light after the success of LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO (THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET), TACONES LEJANOS (HIGH HEELS) finds Almodovar continuing to explore the female psyche in a story that's an equivalent of a spicy gazpacho made with combinations of the histrionics of Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE and the melodramatic garishness of a Douglas Sirk melodrama with a subtle reference to Ingmar Bergman's HOSTONATEN.
Throw in the usual suspects -- a mother (with a name that recalls high-drag), Becky del Paramo (Marisa Paredes), her estranged daughter Rebeca (Victoria Abril), Rebeca's husband Manuel (Feodor Atkine) who is one of Becky's former lovers -- a little murder and a female impersonator (Miguel Bose), and you have a sizzling story that is vintage Almodovar.