''All About My Mother'' ( es, link=no, Todo sobre mi madre) is a 1999 comedy-drama film written and directed by

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narra ...

, and starring

Cecilia Roth Cecilia Edith Rotenberg Gutkin better known as Cecilia Roth (; born August 8, 1956) is an Argentine actress. She is the winner of two Goya Awards and a European Film Award. She is known for being an " Almodóvar girl" and the "muse" of Fito P ...

Marisa Paredes María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé (born 3 April 1946), known professionally as Marisa Paredes, is a Spanish actress. Biography Paredes began acting in 1960 film, '' 091 Policia al Habla'' (''091, Police Speaking!'') She became a teen idol across ...

Candela Peña María del Pilar Peña Sánchez (born 14 July 1973), professionally known as Candela Peña, is a Spanish actress. Since her film debut in the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time'', she has had a lengthy career in cinema. She won the Goya Award ...

Antonia San Juan Antonia San Juan Fernández (born 22 May 1961) is a Spanish actress, director and screenwriter. Biography She was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. At 19 she went to Madrid, where she started working as a professional theatre actr ...

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British ...

and Rosa Maria Sardà. The plot originates in Almodóvar's earlier film ''

The Flower of My Secret ''The Flower of My Secret'' ( es, La flor de mi secreto, links=no) is a 1995 drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. It was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 68th Academy Awards, but it ...

'' (1995) which shows student doctors being trained in how to persuade grieving relatives to allow organs to be used for transplant, focusing on the mother of a teenager killed in a road accident. ''All About My Mother'' deals with complex issues such as AIDS,

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

, and

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

. The film was a commercial and critical success internationally, winning the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

in addition to the Golden Globe for

and the BAFTA Awards for

Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, r ...

and Best Direction (Almodóvar). The film also won six

Goya Awards The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sci ...

including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

(Almodóvar),

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

(Roth).

Plot

The film centers on Manuela, an Argentine nurse who oversees donor organ transplants in Ramón y Cajal Hospital in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and single mother to Esteban, a teenager who wants to be a writer. On his 17th birthday, Esteban is hit by a car and killed while chasing after actress Huma Rojo for her autograph following a performance of ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pers ...

'', in which she portrays

Blanche DuBois Blanche DuBois (married name Grey) is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. The character was written for Tallulah Bankhead and made popular to later audiences with Elia Ka ...

. Manuela has to agree with her colleagues at work that her son's heart be transplanted to a man in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

. After travelling after her son's heart, Manuela quits her job and journeys to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, where she hopes to find her son's mother, Lola, a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

woman, that Manuela had kept secret from her son, just as she never told Lola they had a son. In Barcelona, Manuela reunites with her old friend Agrado, a warm and witty transgender sex worker. She also meets and becomes deeply involved with several new friends: Rosa, a young nun who works in a shelter for sex workers who have experienced violence, but is pregnant by Lola and is HIV positive; Huma Rojo, the actress her son had admired; and the drug-addicted Nina Cruz, Huma's co-star and lover. Her life becomes entwined with theirs as she cares for Rosa during her pregnancy and works for Huma as her personal assistant and even acts in the play as an emergency

understudy In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to a ...

for Nina during one of her drug abuse crises. On her way to the hospital, Rosa asks the taxi to stop at a park where she spots her father's dog, Sapic, and then her own father, who suffers from Alzheimer's; he does not recognize Rosa and asks for her age and height, but Sapic recognizes Rosa. Rosa dies giving birth to her son, and Lola and Manuela finally reunite at Rosa's funeral. Lola (whose dead name is Esteban), who is dying from AIDS, talks about how she always wanted a son, and Manuela tells her about her own Esteban and how he died in an accident. Manuela then adopts Esteban, Rosa's child, and stays with him at Rosa's parents' house. The father does not understand who Manuela is, and Rosa's mother says it is the new cook, who is living there with her son. Rosa's father then asks Manuela her age and height. Manuela introduces Esteban (Rosa's son) to Lola and gives her a picture of their own Esteban. Rosa's mother spots them from the street and then confronts Manuela about letting strangers see the baby. Manuela tells her that Lola is Esteban's mother; Rosa's mother is appalled and says: "That is the monster that killed my daughter?!" Manuela flees back to Madrid with Esteban; she cannot take living at Rosa's house any longer, since the grandmother is afraid that she will contract HIV from the baby. She writes a letter to Huma and Agrado saying that she is leaving and once again is sorry for not saying goodbye, like she did years before. Two years later, Manuela returns with Esteban to an AIDS convention, telling Huma and Agrado, who now run a stage show together, that Esteban had been a miracle by becoming HIV-free. She then says she is returning to stay with Esteban's grandparents. When Manuela asks Huma about Nina, Huma becomes melancholic and leaves. Agrado tells Manuela that Nina returned to her town, got married, and had a fat, ugly baby boy. Huma then rejoins the conversation briefly before exiting the dressing room to go perform.

Cast

as Manuela Echevarria *

as Huma Rojo *

as Nina Cruz *

as Agrado *

as Rosa * Rosa Maria Sardà as Rosa's mother *

Fernando Fernán Gómez Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007) better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez was a Spanish actor, screenwriter, film director, theater director and member of the Royal Spanish Academy for seven years. He was born i ...

as Rosa's father *

Eloy Azorín Eloy José Arenas Azorín (born 19 February 1977) is a Spanish film, theatre and television actor. He appeared in movies like ''All About My Mother'' (1999), ''Cuba'' (1999), '' Mad Love'' (2001), '' Guerreros'' (2001), ''Kisses for Everyone'' ( ...

as Esteban Echevarria *

Toni Cantó Antonio Cantó García del Moral, known as Toni Cantó (born 14 January 1965) is a Spanish actor, current People's Party politician and former Citizens deputy and spokesman, who represented Valencia Province in the Congress of Deputies from 20 ...

as Lola

Production

Almodóvar dedicates his film "To all actresses who have played actresses. To all women who act. To men who act and become women. To all the people who want to be mothers. To my mother". Almodóvar recreates the accident scene from

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...

' '' Opening Night'' (1977) as the epicenter of the dramatic conflict. The film was mainly shot on location in

. The soundtrack includes "Gorrión" and "Coral para mi pequeño y lejano pueblo", written by

Dino Saluzzi Timoteo "Dino" Saluzzi (born 20 May 1935) is an Argentinian bandoneon player. He is the son of Cayetano Saluzzi and the father of guitarist José Maria Saluzzi. Early life, family and education Timoteo "Dino" Saluzzi was born in Campo Santo, ...

and performed by Saluzzi, Marc Johnson, and José Saluzzi, and "Tajabone", written and performed by

Ismaël Lô Ismaël Lô (also Ismaël Lo; born 1956) is a Senegalese musician and actor. Life Lô was born in Dogondoutchi, Niger on 30 August 1956, to a Senegalese father and a Nigerien mother. Shortly after Lo's birth the family returned to Senegal wher ...

. The poster for the film was designed by Madrid illustrator Óscar Mariné. This poster was designed to epitomize the very image of beauty, simplicity, and femininity. The poster intentionally emphasizes red, white and blue with black accent strokes and a pop of yellow.

Release

The

film premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

d in Spain on 8 April 1999 and went into general theatrical release on 16 April. It was shown at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, the

Karlovy Vary Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

, the Auckland Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, the

Thessaloniki International Film Festival The Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), organized by the cultural institution of the same name under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture, is held every November in Thessaloniki.TIFF features international competition secti ...

, and the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

before going into limited release in the United States. It eventually grossed €9,962,047 in Spain ($12,595,016), $8,272,296 in the US and $59,600,000 in foreign markets for a worldwide box office total of $67,872,296.

Critical reception in the United States

Janet Maslin of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' called it Almodóvar's "best film by far", noting he "presents this womanly melodrama with an empathy to recall

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...

's and an eye-dampening intensity to out-Sirk

Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk started his career in Germany as a stage and screen director, but he left for ...

". She added, "It's the crossover moment in the career of a born four-hankie storyteller of ever-increasing stature. Look out, Hollywood, here he comes". Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' observed, "You don't know where to position yourself while you're watching a film like ''All About My Mother'', and that's part of the appeal: Do you take it seriously, like the characters do, or do you notice the bright colors and flashy art decoration, the cheerful homages to

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

and ''

All About Eve ''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although Orr does not receive a screen credit ...

'', and see it as a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

? . . . Almodóvar's earlier films sometimes seemed to be manipulating the characters as an exercise. Here the plot does handstands in its eagerness to use coincidence, surprise and melodrama. But the characters have a weight and reality, as if Almodóvar has finally taken pity on them – has seen that although their plights may seem ludicrous, they are real enough to hurt". Bob Graham of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' said, "No one else makes movies like this Spanish director" and added, "In other hands, these characters might be candidates for confessions – and brawls – on ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

'', but here they are handled with utmost sympathy. None of these goings-on is presented as sordid or seedy. The presentation is as bright, glossy and seductive as a fashion magazine . . . The tone of ''All About My Mother'' has the heart-on-the-sleeve emotions of soap opera, but it is completely sincere and by no means

camp Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

". Wesley Morris of the '' San Francisco Examiner'' called the film "a romantically labyrinthine tribute that piles layers of inter-textual shout-outs to ''All About Eve'', Tennessee Williams,

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

and Alfred Hitchcock, and beautifully assesses the nature of facades . . . Almodóvar imbues his Harlequin-novel-meets- Marvel-comic-book melodramas with something more than a wink and a smile, and it is beguiling. His expressionism and his screenwriting have always had fun together, but now there is a kind of faith and spirituality that sexcapades like ''

Law of Desire ''Law of Desire'' ( es, link=no, La ley del deseo) is a 1987 Spanish comedy thriller film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Eusebio Poncela as Pablo, Carmen Maura as Tina and Antonio Banderas as Antonio. It was the first film A ...

'' and ''

Kika KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...

'' only laughed at... it contains a host of superlative firsts: a handful of the only truly moving scenes he has filmed, the most gorgeous dialogue he has composed, his most dimensional performances of his most dimensional characters and perhaps his most dynamic photography and elaborate production design". Jonathan Holland of '' Variety (magazine), Variety'' called the film "emotionally satisfying and brilliantly played" and commented, "The emotional tone is predominantly dark and confrontational . . . But thanks to a sweetly paced and genuinely witty script, pic doesn't become depressing as it focuses on the characters' stoic resilience and good humor". On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 91 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating of 8.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Almodovar weaves together a magnificent tapestry of femininity with an affectionate wink to classics of theater and cinema in this poignant story of love, loss and compassion." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". In 2018 the film was ranked 32nd in BBC's list of The 100 greatest foreign language films.

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

ranked the film at No. 69 on its list of "90 great films of 1990s".

Selected awards and nominations

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

(won) BAFTA Awards *

(won) * Best Direction (Almodóvar, won) * Best Screenplay – Original (Almodóvar, nominated – lost to ''Being John Malkovich'', Charlie Kaufman) Golden Globe Awards *

(won)

(Roth, won) * Best Cinematography (nominated – lost to ''Goya in Bordeaux'') * Best Costume Design (nominated – lost to ''Goya in Bordeaux'') *

(Almodóvar, won) * Best Editing (won) *

(won) * Best Makeup and Hairstyles (nominated – lost to ''Goya in Bordeaux'') * Best Original Score (Iglesias, won) * Best Production Design (nominated – lost to ''Goya in Bordeaux'') * Best Sound (won) * Best Supporting Actress (Peña, nominee – María Galiana, ''Alone'') * Best Screenplay – Original (Almodóvar, nominee – lost to ''Alone'', Benito Zambrano) ;Other awards *

Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the annual film awards given by the Boston Society of Film Critics. Winners 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s *''La Llorona'' - Guatemala - Jayro Bustamante See also *A ...

(winner) *

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

for Best Foreign Language Film (winner) * Butaca Award for Best Catalan Film Actress (Candela Peña, winner) * Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award (winner) * Cannes Film Festival Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Pedro Almodóvar, winner) *

Chicago Film Critics Association Award The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is an association of professional film criticism, film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The organization was founded in 1990 by film cri ...

for Best Foreign Language Film (winner) * César Award for Best Foreign Film (winner) *

David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film The David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film ( it, David di Donatello per il miglior film straniero) is a category in the David di Donatello Awards, described as "Italy’s answer to the Oscars", presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema It ...

(winner) * Jameson People's Choice Award for Best European Director (winner) * European Film Award for Best European Film (winner) * European Film Award for Best European Actress (Cecilia Roth, winner) *

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their liv ...

for Outstanding Film in Limited Release (nominee) * Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Language Film (nominee) *

London Film Critics Circle The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of The Critics' Circle is known internationally. The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards did not convey the full context of the ...

Award for Foreign Language Film of the Year (winner) *

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film is an award given annually by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It was first introduced in 1975 to reward an outstanding film not in the English language. Winne ...

(winner) *

National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film The National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the annual awards given (since 1934) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Winners 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 20 ...

(winner) *

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the annual awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle. Winners 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple winners ...

(winner) * Premios ACE Award for Best Film (winner) * Premios ACE Award for Best Actress – Cinema (Cecilia Roth, winner) * Premios ACE Award for Best Supporting Actor – Cinema (Fernando Fernán Gómez, winner) * Premios ACE Award for Best Supporting Actress – Cinema (Marisa Paredes, winner) *

Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy The International Press Academy (IPA) is an American association of professional entertainment journalists, represe ...

(winner; tied with ''

Three Seasons ''Three Seasons'' (Vietnamese title: ''Ba Mùa'') is a 1999 American film shot in Vietnam about the past, present, and future of Ho Chi Minh City in the early days of Doi Moi. It is a poetic film that tries to paint a picture of the urban cult ...

'')

Stage adaptation

A stage adaptation of the film by playwright Samuel Adamson received its world première at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

in London's West End on 4 September 2007. This production marked the first English language adaptation of any of Almodóvar's works and had his support and approval. Music by the film's composer,

Alberto Iglesias Alberto Iglesias Fernández-Berridi (born 21 October 1955) is a Spanish composer. He was first noticed as a score composer for Spanish films, mostly from Pedro Almodóvar and Julio Medem. His career became more international with time and he eve ...

, was incorporated into the stage production, with additional music by Max and Ben Ringham. It starred

Colin Morgan Colin Morgan (born 1 January 1986) is a Northern Irish actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the BBC fantasy series ''Merlin'' (2008–2012), Leo Elster in ''Humans'' (2015–2018), and Billy Clanton in Kenneth Branagh’s ...

Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in ''On H ...

Lesley Manville Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films '' Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), ''A ...

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', ''Sherlock (TV series), Sherlock'', and ''Dracu ...

Joanne Froggatt Joanne Froggatt (born 23 August 1980) is a British actress. From 2010 to 2015, she portrayed Anna Bates in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey''. For this role, she received three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...

, and Charlotte Randle. It opened to generally good reviews, with some critics stating it improved upon the film.

References

External links

* * * * *
''All About My Mother: Matriarchal Society''
– an essay by Emma Wilson at

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:All About My Mother 1999 films 1999 comedy-drama films 1999 independent films 1999 LGBT-related films 1990s English-language films 1990s feminist films 1990s Spanish-language films BAFTA winners (films) Best Film Goya Award winners Best Foreign Film César Award winners Best Foreign Film Guldbagge Award winners Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award winners Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners Catalan-language films El Deseo films European Film Awards winners (films) Films about actors Films about gender Films about mother–son relationships Films about trans women Films about writers Films adapted into plays Films directed by Pedro Almodóvar Films produced by Agustín Almodóvar Films scored by Alberto Iglesias Films set in Barcelona Films set in Madrid Films shot in Barcelona Films shot in Madrid Films whose director won the Best Direction BAFTA Award France 2 Cinéma films French comedy-drama films French independent films French LGBT-related films HIV/AIDS in film Lesbian-related films LGBT-related comedy-drama films Spanish comedy-drama films Spanish independent films Spanish LGBT-related films Spanish-language French films 1990s French films 1990s Spanish films