Carne trémula (Live Flesh)
1997
**
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Liberto Rabal, Francesca Neri, Javier Bardem, Ángela Molina, José Sancho, Penélope Cruz, Pilar Bardem, Álex Angulo, Mariola Fuentes, Leandro Rivera
Víctor refuses to accept Elena's rejection. When two detectives, David and Sancho, arrive at the scene, Victor accidentally shoots and paralyses David. Years later, after his release from prison, Victor begins an affair with Sancho's wife, Clara, and discovers that David has married Elena. Pedro Almodóvar's forgettable, erotically-charged melodrama presents a concoction of love, lust, revenge, resentment, betrayal, and domestic abuse. The screenplay, loosely based on Ruth Rendell's 1986 novel, delivers an utterly ludicrous series of soapy, facepalm-worthy contrivances, coincidences, and implausibilities. The characters are equally laughable, and it's baffling if we are supposed to feel sorry for Víctor. The film is bookended with two overdramatic childbirths, which end up being the most believable moments in the story.
