i hated this. i try not to hate movies but honestly i truly, truly hated this one. i can't even properly analyse it yet because i'm too angry and revolted but i will say this: musings on love and human nature and loneliness are not only wrong but outright dangerous when they're bred with misogyny so subtle and vile it goes mostly undetected. it deeply disappoints and frankly terrifies me that so many people think this is a masterpiece.update: i've let this sit for almost a day now & i just can't bring myself to change my rating or be more considerate of this film's alleged virtues. i understand what almodóvar is attempting to get at and i can respect a film that evokes such a strong feeling - even if for me it's something akin to a kind of awful claustrophobia - but i can't go further than that. the problem with this film is that it allows the viewer to effectively opt out of perceiving sexual assault and the violation of women's agency as fundamentally deplorable. ambiguity around issues like that might be "cerebral," might be "philosophically stimulating," might be "art," but it is also undeniably an unacceptable and hazardous contribution to what is fundamentally just misogyny insidiously dressed up as aesthetically pleasing intellectualism.
