Pedro Almodovar seems to be aiming for the excesses of female drama even in his future explorations of male passion, seen in films like CARNE TREMULA (LIVE FLESH) and LA MALA EDUCACION (BAD EDUCATION). A hybrid caught between his lurid comedies of the Eighties and the darker, more textured dramas that would present him in a more mature light after the success of LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO (THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET), TACONES LEJANOS (HIGH HEELS) finds Almodovar continuing to explore the female psyche in a story that's an equivalent of a spicy gazpacho made with combinations of the histrionics of Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE and the melodramatic garishness of a Douglas Sirk melodrama with a subtle reference to Ingmar Bergman's HOSTONATEN. Throw in the usual suspects -- a mother (with a name that recalls high-drag), Becky del Paramo (Marisa Paredes), her estranged daughter Rebeca (Victoria Abril), Rebeca's husband Manuel (Feodor Atkine) who is one of Becky's former lovers -- a little murder and a female impersonator (Miguel Bose), and you have a sizzling story that is vintage Almodovar.
Review of High Heels
