‘Pain and Glory,’ Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, is about a filmmaker who is at the Autumn of his life. it’s tempting to think that the film is autobiographical since the character, Salvador Mallo (played by Antonio Banderas) lives in a house that is an exact replica of Almodovar’s, and banderas even wears the director’s clothes. But I think Almodovar only wants one to think that, as his persona has always dallied with a wink-wink playfulness. As a Director, I never always agreed with his artistic choices, but I have to say his films are always interesting. This one s no exception.

Banderas is great here, as he now is more a Daddy than the carnal flower. There are lines and experience in his face, and Banderas shows them off with great dignity. Salvador Mallo has been experiencing some physical pain (he can’t swallow food) and is in an introspective mode. he reconnects with an actor of one of his films after a falling out, having not been satisfied with the actor’s performance. They bond and gets Mallo hooked in heroin. Then when you think the film starts going the route of a man in late-life crisis, it takes a turn to things a little more unexpected. The modern scenes are interspersed with a narrative of a boy (perhaps Mallo? perhaps Almodovar) who goes to live with hi parents in a cave. An intelligent boy, he starts tutoring a young man who becomes his ‘first desire.’  Everything in the film is heady and busy, but it’s never not making sense. I thought the first part dragged a bit, as if trying to get to a point, but once it got there, it all made sense. The ending is framed with a twist, and then all the pieces of the puzzle are strewn to make sense, only for it to get dismantled again. This film is typical Almodovar for me – there are things about it that I loved, but there are other things in it that confused me, stuff I think I didn’t get, that maybe I should read up on and see again. His films never sit still, and I am all the better for it.