La ley del deseo
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| La Ley Del Deseo | |
|---|---|
 Original Spanish poster |
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| Directed by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Written by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Starring | Antonio Banderas Carmen Maura Eusebio Poncela |
| Release date(s) | February 7, 1987 (Spain) |
| Running time | 102 Min |
| Language | Spanish |
| IMDb profile | |
La ley del deseo (English: Law of Desire) is a 1987 film by Pedro Almodóvar. Considered to be Almodóvar's first explicitly gay film, it focuses on a complex love triangle between three men. It follows the more serious tone set by his film Matador, exploring the ways in which society represses an individual's true desires with tragic consequences.
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[edit] Plot
Pablo Quintero (Eusebio Poncela) is a homosexual film director whose latest work has just been released. In a party after the premiere he meets Antonio (Antonio Banderas), a beautiful young man who is obsessed with him. At the end of the evening they go home together and Antonio experiences anal sex for the first time, but while Pablo considers that happening just a lusty episode and is still in love with his long-time lover Juan, the young man misunderstands his intentions and reveals his possessive behaviour as a lover.
Parallel to this is told the dramatic story of Pablo's sister Tina (Carmen Maura), a struggling actress who once was a boy and changed sex to build a sexual relationship with her father, who eventually left her for another woman. Because of this, she hates men so much it is rumoured that she might be a lesbian. She also must care for her niece Ada, whose mother (played by the famed Spanish transsexual actress and singer, Bibí Andersen) is not at home, whom she loves like a daughter.
The thrills begin when a jealous Antonio tries to rape Juan and ends up throwing him off a cliff. After confronting Antonio about the death, a devastated Pablo has an accident that causes a loss of memory. The police suspect both Tina and Pablo for the murder - only a sympathetic doctor keeps them at bay. Tina decides to reveal to Pablo why she is a transexual, and announces she has found a lover, who Pablo finds out too late is actually Antonio. Antonio holds Tina & Ada hostage in order to demand an hour alone with Pablo. A stunned and limping Pablo agrees, and experiences some tender moments with Antonio before he suddenly kills himself.
[edit] Analysis
La ley del deseo is the movie that introduced the mainstream public to Almodóvar, even with its lurid transgressions and unusual characters. The events unfold in a melodramatic way and the dialogue is in the style of old Hollywood cinema. The film does show, however, a groundbreaking honesty in its portrayal of gay characters, who are observed without sentimentality, silliness, disrespect, or condemnation. The film's gay and transgender characters are treated just like every other character in a movie whose targets are more diverse than any of Almodóvar's previous releases. This evenhanded sensibility is common among homosexual artists (another example is Rainer Werner Fassbinder).
Almodóvar has often said that his characters' actions come from their desires; each catastrophe is therefore linked to the characters' unbridled passion. In his films, it is clear that society, and not the individual, is primarily to blame. It is society's strict morality that forces these characters to repress their desires out of fear, making them incapable of being themselves in a world whose standards are too narrow. These people keep their passions inside, despite living in a modern culture (which is more close-minded and old-fashioned than it seems), until those desires become too difficult to control and erupt with tragic coonsequences.
[edit] Interesting facts
- The theatre as a metaphor of reality, later used in his most famous movies like Todo sobre mi madre, appears here and is a landmark of the director's imagery. Even if the scenes shown may not be linked to the story, there is always an interesting relation to be found in them.
- La mala educación has a similar plot. The presence of gay directors in these movies is autobiographical and Almodóvar has often said that La mala educación was written a long time ago, and could have been made even in his early years. So the 2004 movie has to be considered in relation to all of his works in order to find relevant similarities to themes which are explored in La mala educación, and following the scandal of paedophile priests such themes have had a much greater impact on the public.
[edit] Rating
The movies is currently rated NC-17 in the USA.
Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980) • Laberinto de pasiones (1982) • Entre tinieblas (1983) • ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (1984) • Matador (1986) • La ley del deseo (1987) • Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988) • ¡Átame! (1990) • Tacones lejanos (1991) • Kika (1993) • La flor de mi secreto (1995) • Carne trémula (1997) • Todo sobre mi madre (1999) • Hable con ella (2002) • La mala educación (2004) • Volver (2006)
