High Heels [Tacones lejanos] **** (1991, Victoria Abril, Marisa Paredes, Miguel Bosé) – Classic Movie Review 887

‘I hated you sometimes, but even on those times I never stop loving you.’ –  Rebecca Giner.

In his 1991 movie High Heels (Tacones Lejanos) writer-director Pedro Almodóvar  comes up the weirdest and most contrived of plots in which a famous singer called Becky del Páramo (played by Marisa Paredes) returns after a gap of 15 years to discover that her daughter has married one of her own old boyfriends.

Almodôvar casts Victoria Abril as Rebecca Giner, the woman who is so in much the shadow of her mother that, not only has she wed the mother’s ex-lover but also she even falls for, and has graphic sex with, a district attorney drag queen who impersonates her mother at a gay bar. Nevertheless, the two women try to mend their broken mother/daughter relationship and deal with their common lover. But the setup of the story has melodramatic consequences, with a mystery plot kicking in.

Played as one of the 1950s-style glossy melodramas that so appeal to Almodôvar, it is certainly smartly and stylishly done. But it is a little light in the laughs, irony and wit departments, and can get a little tiresome spread out over 112 minutes. It doesn’t even seem very shocking or subversive, as Almodôvar seems to have intended, just a little bit dull some of the time.

Still, it’s propelled by the extremely vivacious and appealing performances from the two remarkable Spanish actresses, relishing unusually fulfilling star parts for women, and for these the film is recommended. It’s also appealing for its glossy Eastmancolor cinematography by Alfredo F Mayo and its catchy soundtrack, with the highlights in two incredible songs, Un ano de amor and Piensa en mi.

The literal translation of the Spanish title is Distant Heels, the sound of which Becky and Rebecca refer to when reminiscing about their childhoods. In real life, there’s only 12 years age difference between the two Madrid-born stars.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 887

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Marisa Paredes.

Victoria Abril.

Pedro Almodôvar.