The Flower of My Secret

press release:  THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET (LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO)

Spain | 1995 | 35mm | 103 min. | Spanish with English subtitles

Director: Pedro Almodóvar; Cast: Marisa Paredes, Juan Echanove, Rossy de Palma

Lovelorn romance novelist Leo (Paredes) sees her own marriage to a military officer disintegrate, along with her career. Leo longs to shake off her nom de plume and publish more serious work. Her chance comes via a newspaper editor, who unknowingly asks her to pen a scathing newspaper review of her alter ego’s latest bestseller. Like his protagonist, Almodóvar had reached a major turning point, shedding the camp comedy and murderous intrigue of his early work and giving himself over to full-blown melodrama. The repercussions were long-lasting—Almodóvar later mined two of this film’s minor subplots for portions of All About My Mother and Volver.

Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar

For our Fall Sunday afternoon series at the Chazen Museum of Art, we will screen the beautiful and influential work of contemporary Spanish cinema’s best-known filmmaker, Pedro Almodóvar. A veritable industry onto himself, Almodóvar, as a writer, producer and director, has carved out a substantial slice of the international moviegoing audience for his classically told tales of offbeat lives and offbeat love. Almodóvar is an artist who does not hide his cinematic influences but every aspect of his work – from production design to storytelling techniques - always feels decidedly personal.

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.