Rent All About My Mother (1999)

Lipstick Reds, Cobalt Blues, and Earned Tears - All About My Mother review by griggs

It sort of sidles up and then gets you when you’re not looking. It’s often heartbreaking — grief, illness, abandonment — but it’s also oddly comforting. Almodóvar deals in bruises, yet he keeps it soft to the touch: no cheap emotional blackmail, just a steady belief that people can carry on.

He folds art back into life with a knowing grin, threading A Streetcar Named Desire and All About Eve through the drama, with a faint Cassavetes-ish whiff of messy feelings underneath. It’s also genuinely open-hearted about queer lives, and plainspoken about HIV/AIDS — matter-of-fact, not tiptoeing, not turning anyone into a lesson.

What really sticks with me is the moral engine: care as identity. Who gets to reinvent themselves, who gets forgiven, and what love costs when it’s mostly responsibility. Cecilia Roth holds the centre with wounded grace, Antonia San Juan cuts through with bite, Penélope Cruz brings grounded sweetness, and Marisa Paredes radiates fragile-diva authority. It’s a bit overstuffed, sure, but it sticks the landing — lipstick reds and cobalt blues, raw feelings, and tears that feel earned.

Impeccable - All About My Mother review by PM

Hard to overrate this film. Beautifully put together telling a characteristically unusual story with humour and sensitivity. At its heart is an exploration of what it means to be authentic. I particularly loved the soundtrack which discreetly created a fabulous tone throughout.