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Review: Law of Desire (La Ley del Deseo, 1987) ★★★★

<p>Redefining gender and reevaluating traditional values are trademarks of Pedro Almodóvar’s sensual&comma; calculated style&period; Some might see the sexuality of his films as muddled&comma; even contradictory&comma; but it’s quite the opposite&period; The sexual desire in films such as <em>Law of Desire<&sol;em> exists completely outside the heteronormative landscape to which we are accustomed&period; He embraces a world without boundaries&comma; where bodies are simply attracted to other bodies&comma; free of hang-ups or anxiety&period; This is not to say that Almodóvar doesn’t work to address these kinds of issues&period; In fact&comma; one could argue that his films attempt to alleviate sexual anxiety and express desire within a world that is &lpar;generally&rpar; free of judgment or apprehension&period; Nothing is out of bounds&comma; and while there are certain characters in his narratives that condemn the sexual freedom&comma; they are often outsiders&comma; completely unwelcome in the world that Almodóvar has created&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Almodóvar reached a seminal point in his career with <em>Law of Desire<&sol;em>&comma; solidifying himself as a film auteur and subsequently directing the more widely acclaimed <em>Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown<&sol;em> the following year&period; <em>Law of Desire<&sol;em> was the first release of his fledgling production company&comma; <em>El Deseo<&sol;em>&period; The story follows Pablo &lpar;Eusebio Poncela&rpar;&comma; a successful gay film director who is in a complicated relationship with a much younger man&comma; Juan &lpar;Miguel Molina&rpar;&comma; who feels that his love for Pablo is not entirely reciprocated&period; Pablo shares a special bond with his transsexual sister&comma; Tina &lpar;Carmen Maura&rpar;&comma; who acts as a surrogate mother for Ada &lpar;Manuela Velasco&rpar;&comma; a young girl left in her care by an ex-lover&period; On the same night that Pablo premieres his new stage play &lpar;in which Tina stars&rpar;&comma; he meets a man named Antonio &lpar;Antonio Banderas&rpar; and they have a one-night stand&period; This is Antonio’s first homosexual experience&comma; and he quickly becomes obsessed with Pablo&comma; though Pablo regards their relationship as a mere fling&period; Pablo’s indifference only intensifies Antonio’s obsession&comma; and the situation soon spirals out of control&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Law of Desire<&sol;em> never shies away from addressing sexuality directly&comma; treating the human body &lpar;generally male&rpar; as something that should be seen and even objectified&period; To Almodóvar&comma; desire &lpar;primarily sexual desire&rpar; is what drives human action&comma; for better or worse&period; The plot is essentially built on Pablo’s insatiable&comma; and often selfish&comma; sexual appetite&comma; and is complicated by Antonio’s obsession and perseverance&period; We are made to see exactly how sexual encounters come about&comma; the sensations that the characters feel during sex&comma; and then the subsequent after effects&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;865" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-865" style&equals;"width&colon; 602px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-865" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;tumblr&lowbar;n741h1nuww1tus777o3&lowbar;1280-300x149&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"602" height&equals;"299" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-865" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">What should have been a simple one-night stand ends up complicating Pablo&&num;8217&semi;s love life even further &lpar;Law of Desire&comma; 1987&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>What is most striking about this film &lpar;and a few others by Almodóvar&rpar; is that gender is never treated as a definable quality&period; Men are not men&comma; and women are not women&comma; but rather every character simply exists free of categorization&period; They may define themselves by certain terms&comma; but the narrative never constricts them to one single categorization&period; This is most evident with Antonio and Tina&period; Antonio self-defines as a heterosexual male&comma; but he sleeps with Pablo and then becomes completely infatuated with him&period; Tina is a transsexual woman who acts as a mother and sister&period; A pair of cynical and oafish police officers question her gender identity&comma; but a doctor reconfirms&comma; with notable incredulity&comma; that she is absolutely a woman&period; Almodóvar explores similarly blurred gender lines further in his later work&comma; particularly <em>Bad Education<&sol;em> &lpar;2004&rpar; and <em>The Skin I Live In<&sol;em> &lpar;2011&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The visual style is typical of Almodóvar&OpenCurlyQuote;s films&comma; with the interior sets remaining rather simple and bare&period; There generally aren’t complex set decorations or large&comma; expensive reconstructions&period; Nonetheless&comma; the colors are always bright&comma; and they often draw your attention to the mise-en-scene&comma; despite the humble décor&period; In this way&comma; Almodóvar always seems to find a striking balance between simplicity and extravagance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;866" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-866" style&equals;"width&colon; 602px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-866" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;LAW&lowbar;OF&lowbar;DESIRE&lowbar;large-300x168&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"602" height&equals;"337" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-866" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The film is built on non-traditional relationships work to redefine our ideas concerning gender &lpar;Law of Desire&comma; 1987&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Finally&comma; it is important to note that the film does not only reject traditional conceptions of gender&comma; but more generally it reassesses traditional values&period; Pablo &lpar;a gay man&rpar;&comma; Tina &lpar;his sister and a transsexual woman&rpar;&comma; and Ada &lpar;a young girl who harbors a small crush for Pablo&rpar; all come together to form a surprisingly believable family unit&period; In fact&comma; this unit is the most wholesome element of the film’s story&period; Everything outside of this non-traditional family is portrayed as perverse&comma; corrupted&comma; or simply false&colon; Antonio is obsessive and violent&comma; the police force is inept and abuses its power&comma; and the film industry is shallow and unfulfilling&period; Almodóvar works to redefine the family unit&comma; and shows that a more progressive form of familial relations is far superior to our existing conceptions&comma; which he dismisses as archaic&comma; and possibly even harmful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; <em>Law of Desire<&sol;em> is an incredibly well made film that begs to be analyzed further&period; The actors all give fantastic performances&comma; and every scene&comma; no matter how stylized&comma; somehow feels naturalistic and believable&period; The graphic sexuality on display only works to enhance and validate the free&comma; uninhibited world of Almodóvar’s creation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Law of Desire is currently available to stream on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;hulu&period;com&sol;search&quest;q&equals;law&plus;of&plus;desire">Hulu<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Or it can be purchased via <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B01LZDPFKJ&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B01LZDPFKJ&amp&semi;linkId&equals;a7ab4c57ff572d4fb34571a99b3d8471">Amazon<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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