The Flower of My Secret

Leo has been writing romance novels under the pen name Amanda Gris for years and they sell enormously. She cannot write them any more. Her husband is away on military duty, the marriage is finished, and what comes out of her now is dark and hopeless. Her publisher refuses it, because the contract requires a happy ending. Pedro Almodóvar moves from comedy into melodrama with this film, and the tone of his later work is established here. The best material is with her mother: the old woman Chus Lampreave plays has never adjusted to Madrid, wants to go back to the village, and is the only person who notices her daughter coming apart. Marisa Paredes carries the film alone, with Juan Echanove and Rossy de Palma alongside her. Its flaw is that the subplots keep interrupting, and the knots untied in the last act come apart too easily. The thread about the husband is underdeveloped. Who it is for: admirers of Almodóvar's melodrama and his portraits of women. Who it is not for: anyone expecting his brightly coloured comedies.