It's odd to think that "Broken Embraces" is only the fourth movie -- after "Live Flesh," "All About My Mother" and "Volver" -- actress Penélope Cruz and director Pedro Almodóvar have made together.
Like John Wayne and John Ford, or Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese, the pairing of Cruz and Almodóvar is so perfect, so natural, so defining of both of their careers, it's hard to think about one without the other.
In "Broken Embraces," a sweet and heartbreaking drama, Cruz again serves as Almodóvar's muse -- seen mostly through a camera lens or through the haze of fond remembrance. Cruz plays Lena, a young actress who has a wild, passionate affair with Mateo Blanco (Lluis Homar), her director.
All of this happened 14 years ago, though, and now Mateo is living alone as a blind screenwriter by the name of Harry Caine -- having buried all traces of Mateo when he lost Lena and his eyesight to a car accident. Cared for by his former production designer, Judit (Blanca Portillo), and her son Diego (Tamar Novas), Harry tries to live on and forget about his old life.
One night, when he's alone with Diego, he opens up about what happened 14 years before. It's a tale worthy of one of Mateo's movies: The filmmaker falls in love with the ingenue actress, and vice versa, but cannot requite their love because she's sleeping with the tycoon (José Luis Goméz) who's bankrolling the filmmaker's work -- all this while the tycoon's spoiled son (Rubén Ochandiano) is lurking around with a video camera.
Almodóvar casts his camera lovingly, as always, on his surroundings -- from the gorgeous seaside views of Lanzarote, where Mateo and Lena retreat from the world, to the candy-colored sets of Mateo's movie (which bears more than a passing resemblance to Almodóvar's 1987 farce "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown").
What most pleases Almodóvar's camera is Cruz's lovely face, radiating Audrey Hepburn grace, innocence and raw passion in equal measure. Cruz feels more relaxed, more at home, more human, working with Almodóvar. It's that humanity that makes the tragic romance of Lena and Mateo so heartbreaking -- and so watchable.
SRC='http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site297/20040628_075752_3ha lf.gif'> Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar bring out the best in each other, again, in this story of a doomed romance. Where » Broadway Centre Cinemas. When » Opens Friday. Rating » R for sexual content, language and some drug material. Running time » 128 minutes; in Spanish with subtitles.
