Broken Embraces (2009)

R| 2 hr. 8 min.

Plot Summary
The death of Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez) sets off a chain of events that forces one man to come to terms with his past. Before he went blind, Harry Caine was Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar), a film director who often worked with Ernesto. Ten years ago, Ernesto and Mateo's friendship became a battle for Lena (Penélope Cruz), Ernesto's mistress and Mateo's secret object of affection. When the former recruits his son (Rubén Ochandiano) to spy on the latter, things quickly spiral out of control.

Cast: Penélope Cruz , Lluís Homar , Blanca Portillo , Jose Luis Gomez , Tamar Novas , Rubén Ochandiano , Marta Aledo , Agustín Almodóvar

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Genres: Drama, Thriller

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Broken Embraces (2009)

Release Date: November 20th, 2009|2 hr. 8 min.

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critic reviews (10)

fan reviews ( 4 )

88

Peter Travers Rolling Stone

Cruz exudes a sensual aura of mystery that holds you spellbound. And Almodóvar, a true poet of cinema, creates images -- horrifying and healing -- that live inside your head like a waking dream. You want to miss a movie like that? I didn’t think so. show more
50

San Francisco Chronicle

It all adds up to an entertaining combination of suspense and melodrama, a movie that doesn't cohere too well - and veers toward the silly in its more-obvious plot mechanics. show more
75

Claudia Puig USA Today

As a film that pays tribute to vintage '50s Hollywood, Broken Embraces is a visual delight. show more

April 23, 2010 drarthurwells
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Interesting drama - worth watching, but not a great film
February 12, 2010 Xsonza
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I love Pedro Almodovar films - but this one was just not good. Broken Embraces had all the Almodovar elements - the quirky characters with their neurosis, the wacky narrative, and the colorful scene designs - but, despite all of that, it felt more like a shell of his earlier movies.
January 09, 2010 Duke de WF
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Granted that I'm not totally familiar with Director Almodovar, but I found Broken Embraces totally boring. Maybe the Spanish would find it "hot stuff" but the plot is disjoined that situations are presented that have absolutely no relevance to the storyline. A gay son with a gay bedroom scene? Why??? Made no sense as to why Almodovar would insert this. It went nowhere. The same effect could have been had by making the son simply angry with the father for general principles. And this was only one thing that made no sense. At one point the two prinicipals were returning to Madrid at night dropped off the face of the earth for a tryst. At a round-about they stop for a lingering kiss? Please. Middle aged people don't do that. I keep thinking, "What were all these major reviewers smokin' when they wrote their overflowing reviews?"

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