Law of Desire Movie Review

In Pedro Almodovar's Law of Desire, the great Carmen Maura invests her role as transsexual actress Tina Quintero with such extremes of fire and ice, both beautifully controlled, that you can watch nothing else when she is onscreen. The plot structure, which caves in at key points, is quite similar to Clint Eastwood's 1971 thriller Play Misty for Me. However, Almodovar's sexual and political concerns extend far beyond showing obsession and possession between two young men in Spain's gay community against the backdrop of a dazzling theatrical atmosphere (an earlier collaboration by Almodovar and Maura was 1985's What Have I Done to Deserve This?). AKA: La Ley del Deseo.

1986 100m/C SP Carmen Maura, Eusebio Poncela, Antonio Banderas, Bibi Andersson, Miguel Molina, Manuela Valasco, Nacho Martinez; D: Pedro Almod ovar; W: Pedro Almodovar; C: Angel Luis Fernandez. VHS, LV