Law of Desire (1986)

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  November 16, 2011

  SirPant

  Although I was never truly convinced by the characters, it was mainly down to the writing and not the performances. Maybe I'd overdosed on Almodóvar having watched 3 of his films in just a few days but it didn't matter too much as I actually regard this film as one of my favourit... read morees of his. It seems like yet another change in direction but at the same time still very much his style of film, I guess that's the mark of a true inspirational director, unlike Bigas Luna who is often compared with Almodóvar, he continually proves he's no one trick pony.

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  June 14, 2010

  ythelastman89

  Very interesting and certainly one of the most original ways to tell a story of overly-passionate love, but this lacks the vision of Pedro Almodovar's later work. Most of the acting is fine, Antonio Banderas is clearly the standout star and gives the most effective performance. W... read morehere the story really excels is in the bold and innovative choices. However, this is by no stretch a mediocre movie, it's just not the extravagant Almodovar that I love.

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  February 25, 2010

  flixsterman

  Creatively constructed 'fatal attraction' but with better direction and far too much homoerotic passion. Please Pedro, I beg you, less naked Antonio Banderas and more naked Carmen Maura!

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  September 10, 2009

  ebs90

  What I loved about La Ley del Deseo is that it's like a soap opera, only that it's made by and about lunatics. Almodóvar likes to blur the line between camp and drama, and I'd say he succeeds completely. His Universe of loveable yet rather depraved characters is full of color, ex... read morecess and humor, and on the screen it's enrapturing and we can accept it as the "real" world... but I couldn't help thinking that, if in fact these people existed in our day to day reality, we would have to be very careful not to get on their bad side.
  
  Pablo is a filmmaker at the top of his game. He's in the process of writing a film for his sister Tina, who lives with a little girl (whose mother has left her while she elopes with her lover). The girl is platonically in love with Pablo, who loves her back like a devoted uncle. Pablo is madly in love with Juan but, because of his high-maintenance, capricious nature, Pablo is never fully satisfied with him. His awareness of his own difficult personality makes him suffer very much. When Juan must return to his work in a town by the sea, Pablo tries for them to "forget" each other. However, he never falls out of love, not even after meeting Antonio, a crazy obsessive fan who will go to any lengths to have him all to himself.
  
  This is a complicated storyline, in which -for a while- it's hard to tell what is the main plot and whether the subplots are any less important; Almodóvar uses all these inter-connections to create absurd, far-fetched conflicts to go with the drama (Pablo's romantic frustration and Antonio's jealousy). Relationships between the characters take a while to become clear, but that's one of the most interesting progressions in this film.
  
  Tina, played by Carmen Maura like only she can, fearless and vibrant, has many secrets. This more sombre part of her character is implicitly there always, even in spite of her outwardly personality. Pablo is by far my favorite character, especially due to Eusebio Poncela's performance. He is simply great. In a film with so many melodramatic speeches and absurd situations, he makes Pablo real, and creates heart-wrenching moments with his eyes only. Antonio Banderas is yet again cast as an obssessive fan (Matador! Átame!), and he also does a great job. His character undergoes many changes of attitude, forced and otherwise, throughout the film, and he had no trouble keeping up.
  
  In La Ley del Deseo, scandal is the norm. Almodóvar made the argument and the characters as scandalous as possible by believable standards. This is what I find so exhilarating about him. He is not afraid to let his imagination fly and reveal his most cynic, dirtiest, or corniest fancies. So often his film could have crossed the line into sheer camp; it doesn't because he knows how to administer his fabrications, and he knows how to pick good actors and write all these charming roles.
  
  I laughed as much as I cringed. The first sequence is absurd, confusing, gratuitious, but it sets the mood for the film: every single one of the characters' problems was brought on by sex. Sex is everywhere, in every scene, and in every shot. Add to this murder, cocaine, fluorescent colors, music, and a Catholic altar, and you have an idea of what goes on. Almodóvar paired images and scenes of such intensity as the beautifully sad ending or the car crash scene, with humorous and corny ones like the appearance of the little girl's mother, or the policemen scenes.
  
  I don't know if Almodóvar was trying to tell us anything about Spanish society, about promiscuity, about honesty. These things occur to me, but I don't know if they're merely casualties. I do know La Ley del Deseo is 97 minutes of absorbing excess and heightened emotions, and that's all I need to know.

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  March 1, 2009

  76Majikat

  A love triangle evolves into obsession and murder, in this fairly early Almodovar picture. Like many of PD?s films, there are subtle hints of sub-stories which push the boundaries of socially accepted relationships.
  
  A very important role for Antonio Banderas in terms of progr... read moreessing towards his Hollywood career. With some (fairly) graphic sexual scenes this may not be for everyone, but a good watch for any Almodovar fans.

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  June 1, 2008

  fernandorafael

  It's not that bad, but it's the worst Almodovar flick I've seen... It's shot in a weird way, and sometimes the script gets too silly. Eusebio Poncela is terrible, but Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas shine.

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  November 26, 2007

  patrickdol

  Although not the best Almodovar, still pretty good. The ending makes the film better...it's one of those, and it's not a surprise ending, I just really liked the ending.

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  October 27, 2008

  ohmysatellite

  One of my favorite films. Its a wonderful story, the imagery is beautiful, and it has an incredibly moving ending.

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  June 5, 2008

  thrusz

  We didn't cover everything we needed to with Fatal Attractiion that we needed a gay Fatal Attraction?
  
  When I was watching the opening credits, I was floored to see Antoinio Bandera's name among the credits. Reemmber, I didn't know much about Almodovar to realize... read more that he would be a cast regular in his subsequent films. I was just excited to see this super macho guy do this movie. Then I found out that this was a graphically gay movie. Again, not homophobic (although alll this protestation would raise some questions), but NC-17 gay sex scenes aren't exactly meant to be watched with popcorn. And boy-oh-boy, was Antoinio really getting in there. I mean, I began thinking that Antonio Banderas was gay in real life. That's commitment and acting. (What if he totally is gay but has now been typecast as oozing machismo? Wouldn't that be weird?) But he plays gay and crazy really well.
  
  Almodovar has a thing about subplots. All of his characters have some kind of backstory. Now, I appreciate that a director / writer takes the time to make full lives for their secondary and tertiary characters. They should. But for some reason, these stories always come back into play unnecessarily in Almodovar's film. For example, telling the backstory of the sister who happens to be a transvestite. That never really has anything to do with the movie outside of the fact that the brother and sister had a horrible childhood. Even that has little to do with the film. Really, it's kind of space filler. Sure, it's intriguing, but I tend to get invested in those side stories only to have them never really pay off in the film.
  
  The one thing that I will give this movie is that it is significantly better than Fatal Attraction. There's a lot more craziness that doesn't come from a shrieking annoying Glenn Close. Also, that ending is almost touching. The victim in this story is this cold character who Stockholm's for his psycho one-night-stand.
  
  But there are more problems with the movie. Almodovar just can't help having the melodramatic, soap-opera-ey elements come into play. The main character gets amnesis, which is just resolved by his memory coming back. I'm pretty sure having him in intensive care would have served the story just as well and made the story at least slightly plausible.
  
  Honestly, the movie is a lot of fun and I feel like I'm painting an angry, straight man's interpretation of it. Yes, it gets a little silly, but it is really cool and pretty thrilling.

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  May 18, 2008

  mginep2

  Very good film...Maura illuminates the screen as a transsexual...watch after you see earlier films because you can see the growth in Almodovar's career...this was one of my first times to Fellini and I did not take my pillow so this film amde me forget that my bottom had fell asl... read moreeep...s

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• Eusebio Poncela as Pablo Quintero
• Carmen Maura as Tina Quintero
• Antonio Banderas as Antonio Benitez
• Miguel Molina as Juan Bermudez
• Manuela Velasco as Ada Child
• Bibiana Fernandez as Ada Mother
• Nacho Martinez as Dr. Martin
• Helga Liné as Antonio's Mother
• Fernando Guillén Cuervo as Inspector

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