Review by Siria
Fascinated by a Woman’s Strong Way of Living
Woman is strong.
That was my first impression of this movie.
Woman is strong.
The heroine, Manuela, is a single mother
who lost her son Esteban in a car accident. He died on his birthday of all
others.
She has grieved his death for days until she
makes up her mind.
She decides to go to Barcelona to find
Esteban’s father.
It’ difficult to make an important decision
when you have lost someone you loved. I think only women can do that.
When it comes to romantic relationship, men
in general find it harder to forget their love than women. Some are obsessed
with the memories in the old days, and their friends get fed up with that.
Manuela has been living with her son
peacefully for 18 years since she divorced her husband. But this peace is
broken by the great sadness of losing her son. I have never married nor had any
child of my own, so her pain is beyond my imagination. In the middle of her
grief, she leaves Madrid to look for Esteban’s “father”. And, she does this all
by herself. The scene where she leaves for Barcelona reminds me of the innate strength
that a woman has inside her.
In Volver,
another movie directed by Almodóvar, the “male sex” was excluded from the
plot naturally. In All About My Mother,
on the other hand, male only exist as the symbol of the “sex”. There are some
male characters who underwent a sex-change operation (therefore regarded as
female). They had breast implant surgery, but never have their penis removed. In
this sense, they are male AND female at the same time. Although they serve as
the symbol of male sex, they are never excluded from the plot because the half
part of them is female.
Esteban’s father,
Lola is also a woman with a penis. She married with Manuela, had breast implant,
and now she leads a life almost same as a prostitute’s. In Barcelona, Manuela
meets a nun called Sister Rosa and finds that the sister is also pregnant by
Lola. Rosa is HIV positive; she dies soon after giving birth to her son. As
promised Rosa, Manuela takes care of the newborn baby. Gradually, she gets past
her grief of losing her own son, if not completely, and takes her life back.
Despite the
title All About My Mother, Manuela’s
son dies in the beginning of the story although he was the one who wanted to
know all about his mother and farther. It’s intriguing that the story develops
from his mother’s view while the movie is titled from the son’s view. Actually,
no characters in the story can find out all about Manuela’s life; only the
audience can. When you are in despair, you will be fascinated by the lives of Manuela
and other strong women in this movie.
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About the
author: Siria was born in Brussels, Belgium. She is half-Japanese and
half-English, and grew up in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In her early days, she studied
in the School of International Liberal Studies of Waseda University, believing
that she should establish an international career because of her international
background. But she felt uncomfortable among many other cosmopolitans and
dropped out. After working as an editor and designer of cellphone websites, now
she works for a company. She enjoys her free life in her own way tweeting about
various topics.
Twitter
@Les_Niniches
(Translated by N. Tajima)
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