All About My Mother

AroView: Almodovar’s “celebration of mother and womanhood” was hailed as something of a departure for the director, though in fact all of his beloved trademarks are in full bloom despite more serious subject matter.

Devastated after the accidental death of her teenage son, a 38-year-old woman (Cecilia Roth) finds strength and healing in the cradle of other troubled souls of the fairer sex – a trans sex worker, an aging stage diva and a disavowed nun. Again styled to perfection, the Spanish auteur proudly borrows from Hollywood classic melodramas like All About Eve and especially A Streetcar Named Desire, which is thematically and theatrically seamed into the complex narrative.