Pedro Almodóvar directed this story of a woman and her circle of
friends who find themselves suffering a variety of emotional crises.
Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is a single mother who has raised her son, Esteban (Eloy Azorín),
to adulthood on her own and has come to emotionally depend on him. One
night, Manuela and Esteban take in a production of A Streetcar Named
Desire; after the show, Esteban is struck and killed by a passing
motorist as he dashes into the street to get an autograph from Huma Rojo
(Marisa Paredes), who played Blanche. Emotionally devastated,
Manuela relocates to Barcelona in hopes of finding her ex-husband (and
Esteban's father), who is now working as a female impersonator. Manuela
becomes reacquainted with old friend La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a transsexual, and is introduced to Sister Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a good-hearted nun who has to contend with her considerably more cynical mother (Rosa María Sardà).
While looking for work, Manuela becomes acquainted with Huma Rojo.
Huma, on the other hand, has troubles of her own, most involving her
drug-addicted significant other, Nina (Candela Peña).
Displaying
Almodóvar's trademark visual style and a unusually strong sense of
character-driven drama, ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER received a highly
anticipated theatrical run in Spain before winning the Best Director
award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival; in 2000, Almodóvar would receive
the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.