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Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 30 Ratings

  • Starring: Blanca Portillo, Lluís Homar, Penélope Cruz
  • Summary: A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his life. One night when he's asked about his life before the accident, the man can't refuse the chance to tell his story. (Sony Classics) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 32
  2. Negative: 1 out of 32
  1. 100
    A voluptuary of a film, drunk on primary colors, caressing Penelope Cruz, using the devices of a Hitchcock to distract us with surfaces while the sinister uncoils beneath. As it ravished me, I longed for a freeze frame to allow me to savor a shot.
  2. Reviewed by: Kim Newman
    80
    Gorgeous and seductive, if pitched at Almodóvar fans and perhaps a touch long. Those drawn by Cruz’s divadom will wonder why it takes so long to get to her -- though she is wholly dazzling when it does.
  3. The notable lack of chemistry between Cruz and Homar is a crucial absence in a film about all-consuming romance. And though each part is great fun to watch, the whole feels unfinished.
  4. Almodovar lets his movie become boring, and insufferably so.

See all 32 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. BradK.
    10
    A gorgeous film! Cruz is incredible and unmatched in her ability to morph and demonstrate nuance throughout the film. The overall feeling of the film is unsettling in a captivating way. This is not "Volver," but closer to "Bad Education," but with a sense of humor in light of the bleak scenario. It also brilliantly captures the effects of Spanish literature's common metatextual and autoreferential themes, with "Chicas y Maletas" mirroring "Women on the Verge..." and Cruz herself playing a woman who wants to be an actress, a star, in a film from the leader of Spanish film. Expand
  2. Pedro Almodóvar is a single-minded artist who always has one eye on the story and the characters, and the other on the delight of the film's images and colours. Never has there been a filmmaker who uses such an inspired and gorgeous and sumptuous palette. Expand
  3. Broken Embraces seems to be a typical Almadovar film - which is very good, to say the least. He uses his typical ways of directing, which have by now become his trademark. With his usual excellent cast, and of-late muse Penelope Cruz leading the way, the film just shows great character development. That is both due to the screenplay and a rather impressive response of the actors to the screenplay and Almodovar's direction. The original score of the film is also rather captivating.
    However, one cannot but compare his latest to his previous films, such as Volver, La mala educacion or Hable con ella, and once one does it, one can see that Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos) is not quite as great as the others. There is just something missing. However, it is still a very good film, coming from the best Spanish (if not European) director, starring the best Spanish actors. I'd highly recommend it!!
    Expand
  4. Pedro Almodovar? Check. Hard-boiled 1950s American film noir? Check. Penelope Cruz? Check. I think it's not bad movie but it's quite not interesting for me. Expand

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