Law of Desire (1987)

As you see from the other users' comments (the ones who liked the film, I mean), the director likes reinventing themes from previous movies. The links are a great insight into what he had wished to convey in his earlier works but hadn't quite fully expressed. It was the same for Ansel Adams, whose most popular work was actually reissues of his older photos, but with different photo exposures and significantly more dramatic contrast. I've loved watching Almodovar's tastes refine through the years (it could be argued that John Waters followed the same artistic maturation at roughly the same time). If you can, please watch this film with Spanish-speaking friends. There's just too much for the subtitles to convey, and you're missing out on facial expressions and backgrounds if your eyes are glued to the subtitles.

"Antonio, abre la puerta!" (sound of fan flinging)

Fmovies: This is my second favourite Almodovar film, after "Hable con Ella". It reveals the depth of the characters' feelings with such subtlety and delicacy that as viewers we find ourselves unable to judge the characters' actions. We are puzzled by the intensity of their desire, love and misery in the same way that we are puzzled by Benigno's deep loneliness and longing for love in "Hable con Ella". In "La ley del Deseo," murder and suicide become extreme natural consequences of the characters' love and suffering. We cannot condemn the murder any more than we can condemn the rape in "Hable con Ella".

I once read that Pedro Almodovar wanted to reach out his audience via their hearts, their minds and their genitals, with this, my first experience with the director, he most certainly sticks to his aims. The film opens with a young man masturbating upon the orders of his director, from here on in the tone is set for what is, a bonkers, yet highly entertaining picture.

The plot revolves around the sexual adventures of gay director Pablo Quintero and his transsexual sister, Tina, her struggle with men and the duty of bringing up a young daughter who she fathered when she was a he!, still with me?. Into their lives comes Antonio Benitez, he's sexually fascinated with Pablo but gets his nose put out of joint upon learning of Pablo's love of another guy called Juan, things are about to get darkly unnerving.

Law Of Desire is stylish and full of tricky eccentricities, it's also very much in your face with its blatant urge to be seedy, however it's backed up by wonderful performances from Antoino Banderas {Benitez}, Carmen Maura {Tina} and Eusebio Poncela {Pablo}, whilst it's director is clearly a talent that was, at this time in his life, making films with attitude and a devil may care spirit. 7/10

Law of Desire fmovies. I saw this film after having seen Bad Education, and there are many plot lines similar in both. I loved this film, not only am I a huge fan of Almodóvar, but in this film, the easy and simple beauty of the shots stood out. The acting was good, not amazing but good, particularly from Pablo and Tina. As well as directing beautifully, Almodóvar knows how to infuse a scene with sex, even if no sex is actually taking place-for example, when Antonio lights his cigarette of Pablo's. The film does become melodramatic towards the end, but I don't see this as a failing, melodrama, if done well, as it is here, need not be ridiculous

Outrageous, extremely enjoyable, over-the-top melodrama about a straight psychopath (Antonio Banderas) prepared to go gay to further his career with a homosexual film director (Eusebio Poncela). A feast of familiar faces for anyone familiar with Almodovar's career. Carmen Maura as the director's transsexual sister, happily dispensing cocaine to hospital patients, knocking out policemen and engaging in the in-scene to end all in-scenes with the beautiful Bibiana Fernandez, the mother of her adopted daughter, when anyone in the know would recognize Fernandez as Spain's most famous transsexual in real life! About halfway through, Almodovar's loopiness slips into high gear and the laughs come thick and fast. Just don't expect too much believability towards the end. Interesting to see so many faces from Almodovar's pitch-black comedy Matador, made the previous year and in this viewer's opinion far superior. Still, Law of Desire is too way over the top not to be enjoyable. Just don't throw your popcorn at the screen.

Offbeat and sensitive melodrama/Thriller about extreme passions , ¨Amor Fou¨ and a killer on lam , being well acted and directed . Good film including interesting drama , colorful cinematography , sensitive score and fine acting by all-Spanish-star-cast . Almodovar successful thriller/drama , including his ordinary rare characters , twisted situations and eccentric events dealing with a writer/director gay and the men who love him , this sexual disorientation jeopardizes his latest project . As it concerns about a couple of siblings , Pablo and Tina , both of whom have complicated sexual existences . Pablo is homosexual and deeply in love with Juan (Micky Molina) , a young man who won't reply to Pablo's affection . Pablo's brother Tina (Carmen Maura) is a transsexual , angry at men , raising Ada (Manuela Velasco) , and attempting to make it as a player . Pablo takes up with Antonio (Antonio Banderas) , Antonio seeks out Juan , and violence leads to Pablo's grief . Then , it takes place a car crash and Pablo temporarily loss of memory . When memory returns , he learns a dark secret . In horror , Pablo takes on a terrible and disgusting finale .

Enjoyable film full of feeling , rare characters plenty of desire and love , haunting mood-pieces , emotive as well as outrageous images , and sense of style . The picture deals with off-the-wall/intense drama , family absurdities , superb scenes , a haunting meditation on love with dysfunctional roles and many other things . Here deals with existences of the three peculiar roles : a filmmaker , his angry lover and a transsexual whose fates will flow in all directions , past , present and future , dragging all of them towards an unsuspected finale . This strange as well as excessive melodrama/triller/intrigue movie in Douglas Sirk style could only have been made by Almodovar . The picture is acceptable but turns out to be inferior to his subsequent entries such as or ¨Live flesh¨ , ¨The flower of my secret¨ , ¨High heels¨ , ¨Atame¨ , ¨All about my mother¨, ¨Talk to her¨ , all of them strong and outlandish dramas . The result is undiluted scabrous flick , filled with crazy strings of plots and sharp images with thrilling situations . As usual , in the most from Almodóvar films , he uses Latin-American songs in his movies movies , from Rancheras , Boleros to tangos through Mexican and Cuban boleros , Pedro has a great musical taste . Unforgettable scenes when there takes place a peculiar shower , this iconic hose scene was shot twice , the first one wasn't useful because the pressure was so big that Carmen Maura fell down . The second time the scene was shot perfectly, but Maura had to dub herself because of the water noise . The best images happen on the ending of the movie when Tina and Ada are kidnapped and Pablo hurries to Tina's rescue and must face a murderer on loose . Nice actors give awesome interpretations as Eusebio Poncela playing a stressed writer unsettled by a triangular love story , and Antonio Banderas as a youth who becomes jealous of Pablo's love for Juan , the latter well performed by Miguel Molina . I liked everyone in the excellent cast , and the male and female actors , especially Carmen Maura , were all very attractive . Furthermore , a notorious support cast such as Helga Line , Nacho Martínez , Germán Cobos , Bibiana Fernández and other delightfully played roles . And Fernando Guillén as Police inspector and his assistant played by Fernando Guillén Cuervo are father and son both in movie and in real life . In additi