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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

All About My Mother
Sony Pictures Classics


9.5

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality including strong sexual dialogue, language, and some drug content.

Starring Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz, Rosa Maria Sardà, Fernando Fernán Gómez, and Toni Cantó

This is the story of a mother (Roth) recovering from the death of her teenage son. She travels to Barcelona to find her son's father and revisits many places of her youth.

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Pedro Almodóvar
DIRECTED BY:	Pedro Almodóvar
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 11, 2000 Video: July 11, 2000 Theatrical: November 19, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Spain / France
LANGUAGE(S):	Spanish (with English subtitles)

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Almodovar is adept at weaving together strands you'd never guess would match.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Brimming with bittersweet wit and emotion and built with deceptively fluent craft.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The year's best foreign-language movie an absolute must-see.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Almodóvar's masterwork, is a spectacular synthesis of everything that has always interested him -- proud women, lovely boys, beautiful drag queens, grand movie stars, gorgeous frocks, wild wallpaper .

Newsweek David Ansen

This is humanism in drag: Almodovar's passionate redefinition of family values.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A surprisingly satisfying combination of bawdy sexual humor, genuine emotion and a plot with mechanics so excessive that Almodóvar himself calls it "a screwball drama."

Village Voice J. Hoberman

As straightforward and plot-driven as any movie about life imitating art imitating life could possibly be.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Just about everyone worth knowing in All About My Mother is female in spirit, which is to say they're all sexy, impossible, powerfully durable souls, quarrelsome and loyal, inventive at navigating the tragedies.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Pedro Almodovar's transfixing tragicomedy -- the best foreign movie of the year -- is also the best showcase for actresses in ages.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

So intrinsically rich that it doesn't need any metaphors.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

It weaves life and art into a rich tapestry of love, loss and compassion.

Time Richard Corliss

The most mature and satisfying work in a glittering, consistently surprising career.

Film.com Peter Brunette

Funny and wise, lively and contemplative, intriguingly postmodern and powerfully moving, all at the same time. It's not to be missed.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

The most heartfelt tribute to women -- specifically, actresses -- he's (Almodovar) ever made.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It's filled with marvelous performances, fabulous wit, and some dizzying images.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A tender genuflection to the women's energies that keep that spinning world from keeling over.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

Generous in spirit and always engaging as it demonstrates that no matter how difficult life may become, there's no excuse for being drab.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The characters have a weight and reality, as if Almodovar has finally taken pity on them--has seen that although their plights may seem ludicrous, they're real enough to hurt. These are people who stand outside conventional life and its rules, and yet affirm them.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Almodovar still populates his work with characters you'll see nowhere else in movies.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Some will find the movie's sexual antics too explicit and unconventional for comfort.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This is more than a movie: It's Almodovar's design for living.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Almodovar imbues his Harlequin-novel-meets-Marvel-comic-book melodramas with something more than a wink and a smile, and it's beguiling.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

As dark as a Greek tragedy yet it has a vibrance and joie de vivre that can't be contained by grief.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It's enough to make your head spin, but Almodovar, whose mastery of the medium has never been more assured, gives you plenty to think about, ultimately grounding the dizzy whirl of his idiosyncratic fictional world in a story that feels not just true but universal.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

For me it felt like a good many weeks at a politically correct summer camp, though the talented actors--including Cecilia Roth, Eloy Azorin, Marisa Paredes, Toni Canto, Antonia San Juan, and Penelope Cruz--certainly seem to enjoy the taste of the characters they're playing.

Slate David Edelstein

Even though the film is full of laughs, the jokes hover on the edge of the abyss: This is a world in which lurid colors and extravagant gestures are means of filling the void.

Variety Jonathan Holland

An emotionally satisfying and brilliantly played take on the ups and (mostly) downs of a group of less-than-typical female friends.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

The unfettered comedy of life bubbling up from the Spanish unconscious continues to be proudly liberationist, gloriously extreme, and achingly human.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Almodovar has created an ecstatic homage to the women who have inspired him all his life.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

No one else makes movies like this Spanish director.

TNT RoughCut Don Kaye

Emerges as a thoughtful reflection on the many roles women must play throughout their lives.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Classic melodrama given a thoroughly modern, utterly Almodovarian face-lift.

USA Today Mike Clark

Mothers definitely get their due here: Birth mothers, adoptive mothers and mothers-to-be - with the only men in sight (save for one young fatality and one old eccentric) being those who wear flashy makeup and sport breasts

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The work of a talented filmmaker coasting on his own fumes.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Luis G. gave it a10:
The first Almodovar film I saw was Todo Sobre Mi Madre. I was just 16 but I was able to appreciate it. It is insightful, funny, brave, and at most, the best of spanish cinema. The director is a genious. Don't miss Talk to Her either, it is even more original and more poignant.

Max B. gave it a10:
Honest bittersweet portrayal of life’s experiences from an assertive woman’s perspective. Love, loss and friendship. Beautiful and life affirming.

Danielle L. gave it a9:
Brilliantly moving.

Danielle L. gave it a9:
Brilliantly moving

Craig B. gave it a 10:
Smart dialogue, interesting characters, innovative screenplay...a perfect movie!

Yoon C. gave it a 9:
A genuinely warm movie from Almodovar, it has at its center a woman who stands between two vastly different lives; her healthy well-adjusted young son who wants to know more about his family roots and her former husband whose life is an endless series of running away from relationships. This father who turns out to be a transvestite is one of Almodovar's great creations: both ridiculous, even laughable yet in his peculiar, even sublime, way beautiful; someone charming enough to exploit and win the forgiveness of everyone. A warm cozy story wrapped within inspired perversity or vice versa. Not to be missed.

Nick gave it a 10:
I'm moved. almodovar's characters are ALIVE. believe me!

All About My Mother Sony Pictures Classics

All About My Mother
Sony Pictures Classics