La Ley del deseo (eng subs) [1987] directed by Pedro Almodovar

La Ley del deseo (1987)

Law of Desire

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093412/

THIS IS A FULL SCREEN DVD TRANSFER FROM MAKINGOFF.ORG

Law of Desire or La ley del deseo (in original Spanish) is a 1987 film by Pedro Almodóvar.

Considered to be Almodóvar's first explicitly gay film, it focuses on a complex love

triangle between three men. It follows the more serious tone set by his film Matador,

exploring the ways in which society represses an individual's true desires with tragic

consequences. The movie is currently rated NC-17 in the USA.

The film was released the same year that Fatal Attraction came out. A major American film

with a similar plot about a one night stand gone wrong. (Although with heterosexual

characters.)

Almodóvar solidified his creative independence when he started the production company El

Deseo, together with his brother Agustín Almodóvar, who has also had several cameo roles in

his films. From 1986 on, Pedro Almodóvar has produced his own films.

The first movie that came out from El Deseo was the aptly named Law of Desire (La Ley del

Deseo). The narrative follows three main characters: a gay film director who embarks on a

new project; his sister, an actress who used to be his brother (played by Carmen Maura), and

a repressed murderously obsessive stalker (played by Antonio Banderas).

The film presents a gay love triangle and drew away from most representations of homosexuals

in films. These characters are neither coming out nor confront sexual guilt or homophobia;

they are already liberated, like the homosexuals in Fassbinder’s films. Almodóvar said about

Law of Desire : " It's the key film in my life and career. It deals with my vision of

desire, something that's both very hard and very human. By this I mean the absolute

necessity of being desired and the fact that in the interplay of desires it's rare that two

desires meet and correspond".

Almodóvar's films rely heavily on the capacity of his actors to pull through difficult roles

into a complex narrative. In Law of Desire Carmen Maura plays the role of Tina, a woman who

used to be a man. Almodóvar explains: "Carmen is required to imitate a woman, to savour the

imitation, to be conscious of the kitsch part that there is in the imitation, completely

renouncing parody, but not humour."

Elements from Law of Desire grew into the basis for two later films: Carmen Maura appears in

a stage production of Cocteau’s The Human Voice, which inspired Almodóvar’s next film, Women

on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; and Tina's confrontation scene with an abusive priest

formed a partial genesis for Bad Education.




Howrver this film is at its core a story about love and the power and falsity of words. I

first saw this film at its American realease with a friend of mine from Bogota who was moved

to tears both by the story's finale and by the soundtrack; he kept saying, 'this is so

beautiful, and cant explain it in English but it is so beautiful.




Eusebio Poncela ... Pablo Quintero


Carmen Maura ... Tina Quintero


Antonio Banderas ... Antonio Benítez


Miguel Molina ... Juan Bermúdez


Fernando Guillén ... Inspector de policía


Manuela Velasco ... Ada, niña


Nacho Martínez ... Doctor Martín


Bibiana Fernández ... Ada - madre (as Bibí Andersen)


Helga Liné ... Madre de Antonio


Germán Cobos ... El Cura


Fernando Guillén Cuervo ... Policía, chico


Marta Fernández Muro ... Una Groupi


Lupe Barrado ... Enfermera


Alfonso Vallejo ... Sargento


Maruchi León ... Hermana de Juan

Soundtrack:

"Déjame recordar"


Written by José Sabre Marroquín


Performed by Ignacio Villa (as Bola de Nieve)

"Lo dudo"


Written by Chucho Navarro


Performed by Trío Los Panchos

"Ne me quitte pas"


Written by Jacques Brel


Performed by Maysa Matarazzo