Broken Embraces

A blind man named Harry Caine (Lluís Homar) recounts a past love affair, when he was known as Mateo Blanco and was making his final film before a tragedy. In Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Penélope Cruz delivers another great performance as Lena, an aspiring actress who works for escort services and winds up the mistress of a rich, older businessman (José Luis Gómez). She gets cast in Blanco’s movie and has an affair with the director, which unleashes the jealousies of the businessman. The film is a bit scattershot, but Almodóvar is a reliable writer-director who can make even his more inconsistent works interesting. Cruz shows that her recent Oscar was no fluke; she’s one of the better actresses currently working. It’s always interesting to see great directors making movies about making movies, and this one is no exception.