Pedro Almodovar begins Broken Embraces, his fourth collaboration with Penelope Cruz, with a cryptic shot of some sort of video screen. We see bodies, faces just out of view, bustling about on the edges of frame, and a lone woman standing near the center, staring at a man whose shoulder we are looking over. If there is any communication between the two, we are not privy to it. After several inscrutable seconds, she steps out of the frame and Cruz replaces her — finally, it clicks into place. We’re looking at a video monitor on a film set, and the unknown woman before was a stand-in. But this opening sequence frames a lot of what is to come: the self-reflexivity imbued in the film, as well as the mood and mystery that is pervasive throughout.

Broken Embraces follows the story of ex-film director Harry Caine (Lluís Homar) as he recounts the tale of the great love of his life. Blinded in an accident many years ago, he was forced to retire from the director’s chair and now writes for a living instead. His life and work is overseen by his agent Judit (Blanca Portillo), with her adult son Diego (Tamar Novas) working as his de facto assistant whenever Judit is unavailable. Harry hears that millionaire Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez) has passed away, and soon after a young filmmaker named Ray X (Rubén Ochandiano) appears at his door, asking Harry to write a biopic on Martel that Ray will direct. Harry turns him down, but this chain of events upsets Judit greatly and also leaves Harry shaken. Diego is curious about the whole affair, though Harry refuses to talk about it until Diego inadvertently overdoses on a drugged drink in a Madrid nightclub and Harry must look after his recovering assistant while Judit is out of town. Only then does Harry begin to tell his story, one of love, lust, betrayal, and jealousy, and all of which is rooted around the ravishingly beautiful Magdalena (Cruz).

The story is centered around the making of Chicas y Maletas (Girls and Suitcases), a film-within-a-film which itself is a thinly veiled doppelganger for Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, to the extent where much of the original cast reprises their roles. Broken Embraces is a finely acted melodrama with gracious helpings of noir atmosphere, while also simultaneously being a kind of love letter to the movies as written by Almodovar. The Spanish auteur’s love of film is evident almost to the point of distraction, but more in the commentary-track-as-added-experience way, not so much the teenager-texting-two-rows-in-front-of-you sort of way. It absolutely informs every frame of the film and is just as crucial to the movie as any of the major characters. It feels a little like Almodovar made Broken Embraces, which revisits many of the same themes from his best work, as not only his personal offering to the medium of film, but also as a secret handshake to share with his fans worldwide.

The acting is universally wonderful in the film. Homar wears the aged and scabbed-over grief from a past heartbreak in every line on his face. Portillo plays her part with a fine balance of vivaciousness and subtlety. Gómez interweaves both comedic farce and seething menace with equal aplomb. And Cruz shines in her role, once again turning in a performance that both sizzles and shatters. Her collaborations with Almodovar continue to be her best work.

Broken Embraces, however, is far from Almodovar’s best work. The narrative is not quite as polished as some of his previous films and the pacing gets uneven at certain points, but having said that, the end product is still a very enjoyable experience. There is a sense that Almodovar had both this particular story and a strong desire to make a film about film in mind, and the forced marriage of the two naturally left some creases that couldn’t be smoothed over, no matter how technically refined or well-crafted the final product may be. So, while I wouldn’t say it has earned an instant place in Almodovar’s already impressive canon, Broken Embraces remains an engrossing and stylish addition in the storied career of one of the finest filmmakers we have working today.

Tags: Blanca Portillo, Broken Embraces, José Luis Gómez, Lluís Homar, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Review, Rubén Ochandiano, Tamar Novas