Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Almodóvar's most contentious film. Ricky has just been released from a psychiatric hospital. He finds Marina, a woman he spent one night with years earlier, now an actress working in B pictures and struggling with addiction. He ties her up and locks her in her flat, telling her she will fall in love with him. The film presents this as a love story, and that is exactly where the argument sits: Marina does become attached to him and the relationship becomes mutual. Almodóvar does not build it as a thriller or a crime story; the colours are bright, the music is cheerful and the register is close to comedy. That choice, against the weight of the subject, makes the film uncomfortable throughout. It caused a ratings controversy in America: it was given an X, and that became part of the argument that led to the creation of the NC-17 category. Victoria Abril plays Marina and Antonio Banderas plays Ricky. An important link for anyone following Almodóvar and late-1980s Spanish cinema. Before you watch, know this: it places abduction and captivity inside a romantic frame, and that is now the hardest thing about it to defend.