All About My Mother

All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) stands out among Pedro Almodóvar’s many films about the complexities of women—their ability to endure, reinvent themselves, and use performance as a means of discovering an authentic sense of self. Released in 1999, it remains the Spanish auteur’s most celebrated film in terms of critical appraisal and awards. It is also the picture that marked Almodóvar’s transition from Spain’s most internationally recognized and sensational enfant terrible to a measured and thoughtful dramatist. During the 1990s, the director adopted new tonalities and a pointedly melodramatic temperament. In All About My Mother, he softens the ostentatious mise-en-scène that defined his earlier work to explore, with intimate service to his characters, a theme articulated by Agrado, a transgender woman in the film: “A woman is more authentic the more she resembles what she dreams herself to be.” Whether occupying, for the moment, the role of a mother, nun, diva, or sex worker, women defy such simple labels in Almodóvar’s hands. All About My Mother celebrates the performative nature of selfhood that intermingles art and life, not only as a testament to the actresses to whom Almodóvar dedicates the film but also as a celebration of the layered identities of women.

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