TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! Movie Review

Atame

Psychiatric patient Antonio Banderas kidnaps a former porno actress and prostitute (Victoria Abril) he's long had a crush on and holds her captive, convinced that he can make her fall in love with him. Pedro Almodóvar's comedy is neither as witty or subversive as its champions would suggest nor as vile as its detractors would have you believe. Banderas and Abril attack their respective psycho-who-just-needs-love and junkie-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold roles with cartoonish gusto, which perfectly fits Almodóvar's directorial style, visual scheme, and over-the-top screenplay. Never patently offensive, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! just seems too carefully calculated to outrage us, which consequently drains the movie of much-needed spontaneity, despite all the frantic and frenzied bondage and sexuality. The flap over the movie being released without a rating, together with a talked-about scene in a bathtub involving a toy submarine (you got it) brought people into theatres to see it, but only for a couple of weeks.

NEXT STOP … Matador, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, The Collector

1990 (NC-17) 105m/C SP Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Loles Leon, Francesco Rabal, Julieta Serrano, Maria Barranco, Rossy de Palma; D: Pedro Almodovar; W: Pedro Almodovar; C: Jose Luis Alcaine; M: Ennio Morricone. VHS, LV, Letterbox COL