Broken Embraces [DVD] [2009] | ![Broken Embraces [DVD] [2009]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51s3hrfRSvL._SL160_.jpg)
| Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Actors: Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Angela Molina
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £5.68
as of 30/7/2010 08:09 MDT details
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New (16) Used (2) from £5.68
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 2437
Format: Anamorphic, PAL
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Original Language), English (Audio Description)
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5060002836583
ASIN: B002JIM53G
Release Date: February 1, 2010
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Pedro Almodóvar continues to reinvent Hollywood's Golden Age for a new era with Broken Embraces. A blind screenwriter in the present day, Mateo Blanco, a.k.a. Harry Caine (Lluís Homar), reminisces about his favourite leading lady to his assistant, Diego (Tamar Novas). In 1992, when Caine met Lena (Penélope Cruz), stockbroker Ernesto (José Luis Gómez) had just made the cash-strapped secretary his mistress. First, Ernesto pays for her mother's medical care; then he supports her dream to act. In the process, Caine casts her in his screwball comedy and falls in love, and a passionate affair begins. Ernesto suspects something is up, so he hires his shifty son, Ernesto Jr. (the off-key Rubén Ochandiano), to film the couple surreptitiously, and a lip reader translates their conversations. Caine's production manager, Judit (Volver's Blanca Portillo), further complicates the scenario. By the end, Caine, whose name serves as a tip of the hat to hard-boiled author James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice), has lost his vision and his girl, and the culprit isn't as obvious as it seems. With Embraces, Almodóvar riffs on Tinseltown classics where greed and lust lead to death. If less successful than Live Flesh, a prior noir, his jigsaw storytelling remains just as riveting and his principal cast rises to the occasion, particularly Cruz, who plays a more passive character than usual and remains, much like Otto Preminger's Laura before her, a mystery that no one, not even the filmmaker, can ever completely solve.--Kathleen C. Fennessy, Amazon.com
Stills from Broken Embraces (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
 Reliably Almodovar but a little disjointed June 16, 2010
James McDermid
Almodovar's latest film, Broken Embraces, is a strange departure of sorts for the director. Despite a familiar thematic feel of romance versus tragedy, its drawn-out angular storytelling can be uncharacteristically slow and unengaging at times. Whilst the performances in Broken Embraces are typically committed of an Almodovar cast (including a career high point from Penelope Cruz), the plot lacks the emotional and numbing delivery that we're so often used to in an Almodovar film.
 Not his best, but still very good April 26, 2010
Mohd Jafar (Hyderabad, AP India)
"Broken Embraces" comes as another artistic tapestry from one of world's greatest film makers. Penélope Cruz shines in this multilayered story about love, loss, humour and pathos. Like his other films, this one touches the various aspects of human life too. This time through the story of a blind film maker and his passion for cinema.
It would be a little unfair to compare "Broken Embraces" to Almodovar's previous works. It holds a distinction of its own and should be watched and judged on its own merits. It may not be his best work, but it is still very, very good, deep and worth your time. Far better than the kind of stuff that has been coming out in theatres lately.
 Boring embraces March 28, 2010
Nathan P (Manchester)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Have enjoyed his other films; this one isn't much good. Way too long. Women throw themselves at the hero like some sort of male wet dream. The "comedy" film-within-the-film (that has one of the characters "wetting himself") is utterly dreadful but seems to be regarded as some sort of (potential) masterpiece - is that the joke? Penelope is (of course) looking lovely, but the film's not worth filling two hours of your life with.
Girls and Suitcases February 21, 2010
L. Davidson (Belfast, N.Ireland)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Broken Embraces" is a quality piece of world cinema featuring the exquisite Penelope Cruz in the leading role. The film is set in the present day as a blind film director reminisces on a love affair from the mid 1990's with an actress played by Cruz. The director became infatuated with her during the making of a film , but her elderly partner , a powerful businessman, was equally obsessed with her and was not prepared to lose her without a fight. Needless to say the whole affair ended in tragedy. "Broken Embraces" is stylishly made and very well acted by the Spanish cast. It is an intriguing story and all of the characters and relationships are credible, while Cruz lights up the film throughout with her powerful on screen charisma and sultry good looks. "Broken Embraces" is definitely one of the better foreign language films that I have seen over the past few years.
The family drama master executes another hard hitter February 11, 2010
Stampy (England)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Blind man and former director Harry Caine (Homar) recites his last days before his blindness when he was promising another film production.
After being captivated by Volver and All about my mother, I was inclined to try this other dramatic drama from renowned family drama from a master of the genre Pedro Almodovar, and again the famous Oscar winner dives deep within the confines of supposed happy marriages and creates a dramatic but not too soap styling film that produces eccentric performances and epitomises the nature of the lives and issues of family members.
Almodovar's regular star Penelope Cruz is once more elaborate and dramatic in her showcasing of a young woman desperate to succeed as an actress but wishing and desiring for a happy life emotionally from her husband. Cruz who has been nominated for an Oscar for Nine this year has, in my opinion, performed more convincingly here as she battles her emotionless marriage against her determination to become successful, and along with her mother and father back story generates a sad protagonist that any viewer should be able to identify with.
The film has its problems at the beginning with the plot juggled around more times than Nine. We're at Harry's present day, then at Cruz's character's Lena's workplace then back to the present then the past and on and on you would think Harry had a Tardis in his back room.
The emergence of more protagonists as the film carries on develops the plot and whilst the names and faces start to slowly sink in the plot gathers pace as all the characters congregate in a mass collection of dramatic implications.
The plot itself, focusing on concepts as troubled marriages, privileges of sight and lust mixed with love is your typical Almodovar themed story. There is a tendency to be drawn right to the centre of his stories and whilst the character attachment isn't as precise as say Volver there is an emotional hard hitter in the final third.
Performances from Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo et all are all enough to develop the plot in a strong and meaningful way that generates sadness but also an attached captivation within a troubled love story.
There are your typical twists and intrigue as typical director and whilst if you watch too many of his films there is a slight feeling of repetition but there is no questioning this 2009 picture fulfils its purposes as a drama and a class act to entertain, shock and project important life issues to its viewers.
8/10
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
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