For many years Pedro Almodovar was widely known as the bad boy of Spanish cinema. In 1980s many Spanish film-makers tried to exploit creative freedoms suppressed during Franco's rule, but few took such iconoclastic delight in doing that as Almodovar did. In 1990s, with Franco's era and its conservative values becoming distant memory, Almodovar's films with their campy and farcical treatment of sex and violence were becoming obsolete. Almodovar reacted to that by making more conventional films. One of those was 1997 drama Live Flesh.
The plot of the film was based on the novel by famous British mystery writer Ruth Rendell. Victor Plaza (played by Liberto Rabal) is pizza delivery boy who recently lost virginity with Elena (played by Francesca Neri), drugged-out daughter of Italian diplomat. Victor wants to start serious relationship with Elena who, for obvious reasons, can't remember the incident and doesn't want to see him again. They start to argue and two policemen - David (played by Javier Bardem) and his alcoholic partner Sancho (played by Jose Sancho) - come to intervene. In the ensuing scuffle a gun goes off and David gets paralysed from the waist down. Six years later Victor comes out of prison and wants revenge.
Those accustomed to outrageously bizarre characters of previous Almodovar's films are going to be shocked with the down-to-earth normality of Live Flesh. Characters in this film are those most people can imagine encountering in real life; the only bizarre thing is specific set of circumstances that affect their relations. Even the seemingly outrageous character transformations in this film are believable in the context of story. Almodovar handles this uncharacteristically "normal" story quite well, helped by talented cast. Javier Bardem is very effective in the role of macho cop being reduced to cripple while Francesca Neri handles the role of spoiled diplomat's daughter very well. On the other hand, Almodovar was less fortunate in the choice of music - Alberto Iglesias' score is inadequate for this sort of film and annoyingto audience. Another of film's flaws is unnecessary prologue set in Franco's era and the ending that points out how Spain has changed for the better after those bleak times. Live Flesh was far from perfect, but for Almodovar it was the step in the right direction.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on June 15th 2004)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7