An overdue Almodóvar is a lesson in narrative and film history.
With a nod to Hitchcock's
Psycho
, the opening credits of Pedro Almodóvar's follow-up to 2002's
Talk to Her
set a noirish tone that unfolds through the rest of the film. A black, white and red collage of images from vintage film posters and detective paperbacks fill the screen accompanied by a Herrmann-esque score by Alberto Iglesias. The
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images are peeled back to reveal the names of the cast and crew behind each layer. This stylish sequence invites the viewer to keep watching and peeling away layers to see what's underneath, a task that continues until the final credits start to roll.
The film begins in the early '80s when a man claiming to be Ignacio Rodriguez (
The Motorcycle Diaries
' Gael García Bernal) visits an old school friend and lover, filmmaker Enrique Goded (Fele Martinez). Ignacio, a writer turned actor, gives Enrique an autobiographical short story he's written called
The Visit
about confronting the priest who molested him when he was a boy. Enthralled by the story, Enrique decides it will be the basis for his next film.
As Enrique reads, we are taken into the story and back to the '70s when Ignacio, dressed in drag and using the name Zahara, threatens to out Father Manolo (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) as a pedophile with the publication of a short story, also called The Visit, which details the abuse. As blackmail, Zahara demands one million pesetas. When Manolo reads the story, we are taken back to the '60s to witness Ignacio's molestation and his first furtive encounters with Enrique.
Though it's a conceptual handful, Almodóvar controls the disparate narratives of his story-within-a-story-within-a-story by inter-cutting between decades with a series of stunning visual cues that allow the viewer to easily follow the action without taking notes or consulting a program. As the film progresses, the three storylines blend into one and the loose ends are tied.
Ignacio and Enrique become lovers, their relationship picking up from where it left off in childhood, but
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while filming the screen version of
The Visit
, Enrique begins to suspect Ignacio, now demanding to be called by his stage name, Angel Andrade, is not who he says he is, a mystery deepened by revelations from one Manuel Berenguer, the man formerly known as Father Manolo.
The third act contains further homage as the layers masterfully combine to complete the picture. This time dues are paid to Orson Welles' role as Harry Lime in Carol Reed and Graham Greene's
The Third Man
. This kind of knowing wink to the audience gives the film a strong sense of history, a way of using the past to interpret the present. Almodóvar, who based the script partly on his own experiences growing up, uses this technique to great effect throughout the film, creating a world where the past is not only tied to the present but is a tangible part of it. By unleashing such ghosts, the film's dark and damaged characters are constantly haunting the arc of their own lives.
