Broken Embraces

4.00
    Broken Embraces
    2009

    Synopsis

    Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.

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    Cast

    • Penélope CruzLena
    • Lluís HomarMateo Blanco / Harry Caine
    • Blanca PortilloJudit García
    • José Luis GómezErnesto Martel
    • Rubén OchandianoRay X
    • Tamar NovasDiego
    • Ángela MolinaLena's Mother
    • Chus LampreaveConcierge
    • Kiti MánverMadame Mylene
    • Lola DueñasLip Reader

    Recommendations

    • 91

      Entertainment Weekly

      Many of the characters go by two different names. So best advice for optimum viewing is, see Broken Embraces...twice.
    • 91

      The A.V. Club

      Broken Embraces welds Douglas Sirk melodrama to the most gracefully unsettling elements of Alfred Hitchcock, wrapping both in the stylish, hushed elegance that’s become Almodóvar’s trademark since his mid-’90s reinvention.
    • 90

      Salon

      This really is Cruz's movie: Almodóvar is her North Star -- following his lead, she's always found her surest and most graceful footing as an actress.
    • 88

      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.
    • 80

      Empire

      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.
    • 70

      The Hollywood Reporter

      This is a pretty minor film from the filmmaker. It feels like more of an exercise in plotting and movie nostalgia than a story about real people.
    • 70

      Variety

      A restless, rangy and frankly enjoyable genre-juggler that combines melodrama, comedy and more noir-hued darkness than ever before, the picture is held together by the extraordinary force of Almodovar’s cinematic personality.
    • 60

      Village Voice

      Indeed, three decades into his career as a name-brand fashioner of zesty soapers, Spanish cinema's most beloved export could direct un film de Almodóvar with his eyes shut and still get a rise out of his fans. So who could blame the matador for letting the bull run the show this time?

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