User reviews

In what has now customarily become known as the New Queer Cinema, Almodovar's "Law of Desire" must be seen as a landmark film. Opening with a naked man masturbating and being guided through the motions by the disembodied voice of 'the director', this turns out to be something of a red-herring, though it does establish that the film's central character is a director, (Almodovar?), and that he is gay. What follows is a teasing Hitchcockain menage-a-trois murder yarn, (not mystery), in which the homosexuality of the protagonists is very much to the fore and is hardly seen as 'an issue', (a major breakthrough in what was a mainstream Spanish movie of its day). Indeed "Law of Desire" was the film which really established Almodovar internationally and while gay-themed movies were finally making their mark in 1987 few were quite as explicitly erotic or as pleasurably in-your-face as this.

Its cast was largely made up of what only be described as players from Almodovar's stock company and in a fine cast Antonio Banderas and Carmen Maura are the stand-outs; he as a pathologically disturbed 'fan' whose obsession with Eusebio Puncela's director leads to murder and she as the director's transsexual 'sister', a deliriously giddy performance and yet played mostly 'straight' by Maura.

If not quite as deep as Almodovar's later movies there is nevertheless much to enjoy here, (and although dealing with tragic issues Almodovar teases out the black comedy for all its worth). Now, of course, a great deal of the fun is in slotting the film into the Almodovar canon and seeing exactly where it fits in relation to the movies that followed it.

You will find all the familiar Almodovar devices here: telephones, drug use (cocaine in particular), dysfunctional families, sexual ambiguity, pedophile priests, and hospitals. These themes permeate his work, but they are woven intricately throughout this film.

Pablo (Eusebio Poncela) is a writer/director of fantastic movies. He gets into the snares of an obsessive (Antonio Banderas in a great performance) who has a fatal attraction and will kill for his love. At the same time, he has to deal with his transvestite sister played by Carmen Maura (Volver, Women on the Verge, Matador) in another magnificent role.

It is a melodrama about love as that is the overriding need for Banderas and for Maura, who has given up on men since her father left her. It is also about family. Of course, there is a crossing of genres as there is some comedy, but that is minor.

Another magnificent Almodovar film.

This film is centred on two siblings; Pablo, a gay film director who makes homo-erotic films; and his sister Tina, who is a transsexual lesbian who dreams of being an actress and is raising a ten year old girl named Ada who is the daughter of her former girlfriend. After Pablo's lover, Jaun, goes away for the summer he begins a relationship with Antonio, not suspecting that the latter will get dangerously jealous of his love for Juan.

As with most films by director Pedro Almodóvar the plot is secondary to the characters; it is there to put the characters in an interesting, and fairly melodramatic positions. This of course requires interesting central characters and here we get those. As is often the case they are a fairly unconventional group. There are things that may disturb some viewers such as Tina talking about her incestuous relationship with her father who persuaded her to get a sex change before leaving her... particularly shocking is that she doesn't feel abused. Pablo's relationships with Juan and Antonio are surprisingly frank for a film made in the eighties. The cast is solid with Eusebio Poncela and Carmen Maura really impressing as Pablo and Tina; Antonio Banderas is great as Antonio and young Manuela Velasco impresses as Ada. Things do get melodramatic towards the end but that doesn't feel out of place; in fact it is relatively mild compared to some of Almodóvar's other films. Overall I'd say this won't be for everybody but it is a must see for fans of Almodóvar's work.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.

Outrageous, extremely enjoyable, over-the-top melodrama about a straight psychopath (Antonio Banderas) prepared to go gay to further his career with a homosexual film director (Eusebio Poncela). A feast of familiar faces for anyone familiar with Almodovar's career. Carmen Maura as the director's transsexual sister, happily dispensing cocaine to hospital patients, knocking out policemen and engaging in the in-scene to end all in-scenes with the beautiful Bibiana Fernandez, the mother of her adopted daughter, when anyone in the know would recognize Fernandez as Spain's most famous transsexual in real life! About halfway through, Almodovar's loopiness slips into high gear and the laughs come thick and fast. Just don't expect too much believability towards the end. Interesting to see so many faces from Almodovar's pitch-black comedy Matador, made the previous year and in this viewer's opinion far superior. Still, Law of Desire is too way over the top not to be enjoyable. Just don't throw your popcorn at the screen.

THE LAW OF DESIRE opened the 1987 Miami Int'l Film Festival. Almodovar and Carmen Maura had already broken through to the American market at this event with WHAT HAVE I DONE TO... a few years earlier. So it was surprising to find them pacing nervously up and down the lobby of the C.Grove Playhouse at THE LAW's North American premiere. They were also in and out of its rest rooms, as the sold out audience roared in laughter and applauded the film, and I was making an early dash to the post-premiere party at the Viscaya Palace. They were acting just like the neurotic characters they bring to life in this and their other films. They were still insecure and frustrated that their huge popularity and celebrity status in Europe was reduced to a recent, almost cult, following in the U.S. They needn't have worried. The film confirmed both of these artists along with Antonio Banderas as stars among North American art movie lovers. (This achievement would be crowned the following year with the triumph of their next collaboration: the Oscar-nominated WOMEN ON THE VERGE...) But THE LAW OF DESIRE will be remembered as Almodovar's self-confessed most personal work, and the masterpiece of his earlier career. This film is pure Almodovar, before he toned down to more mainstream fare. LAW... resumes the Almodovarian style, in all its excesses. It features most of his muses, beyond Maura and Banderas: Rossy dePalma, Bibi Anderssen, Eusebio Poncela, and the rest. His style as a writer/director of women goes over the top here, as does his predilection with telephones, the police, drug use (cocaine in particular), the media, dysfunctional families, sexual ambiguity, the Catholic Church, and the city of Madrid. Almodovar fans will note that all the above themes permeate his work. But nowhere are they so well linked and exposed as in this landmark film.

I once read that Pedro Almodovar wanted to reach out his audience via their hearts, their minds and their genitals, with this, my first experience with the director, he most certainly sticks to his aims. The film opens with a young man masturbating upon the orders of his director, from here on in the tone is set for what is, a bonkers, yet highly entertaining picture.

The plot revolves around the sexual adventures of gay director Pablo Quintero and his transsexual sister, Tina, her struggle with men and the duty of bringing up a young daughter who she fathered when she was a he!, still with me?. Into their lives comes Antonio Benitez, he's sexually fascinated with Pablo but gets his nose put out of joint upon learning of Pablo's love of another guy called Juan, things are about to get darkly unnerving.

Law Of Desire is stylish and full of tricky eccentricities, it's also very much in your face with its blatant urge to be seedy, however it's backed up by wonderful performances from Antoino Banderas {Benitez}, Carmen Maura {Tina} and Eusebio Poncela {Pablo}, whilst it's director is clearly a talent that was, at this time in his life, making films with attitude and a devil may care spirit. 7/10

One of director Almodovars early films--and one of his best. A gay writer is basically stalked by a psychopath. The films manages to weave together comedy, drama and tragedy and make them all work! Also it manages to work in fairly explicit gay sex scenes and male nudity without it being exploitative--it just fits the storyline and characters. The movie takes a serious misstep about halfway through, throwing in a murder, but manages to regain its footing. The acting is pretty good--not great. Antonio Banderas is so-so as the psycho. I give him credit for engaging in gay sex scenes with no hesitation (I'd love to know what he thinks about this movie now!). The best thing about the movie is the direction--even when the story bogs down in spots, there's always something to look at on screen. Almodovar knows how to make films look beautiful and he, somehow, manages to have the settings fit the tone of the scene. How many directors can you say that about. An excellent film--well worth seeing. But if you're offended by explicit gay subject matter, stay away.

The most significant aspect of The Law of Desire is the fact that it was so accepted in Spain at the time of its release. It was put forward by the authorities as the movie to represent the country in 1987. Bearing in mind that Spain had only come out of a fascist dictatorship not much more than a decade earlier, this simple fact is a testament to how far the country had moved on in such a short period of time. The reason for this is that this is an unashamedly gay themed film, one that celebrates homosexuality and depicts it without issue.

The film itself is about a love triangle between three men. Like several other Pedro Almodóvar films it's a melodrama with thriller elements. It features an extremely daring performance by Antonio Banderas in a role where he is required to perform in some full-on gay love scenes. These moments made the film front page news in Spain but it did nothing to stop Banderas subsequent rise to stardom. For me, however, this is a middling movie. It's not amongst the director's best. In my view, its interest lies more in its historical significance as opposed to it's worth as a film.

This is one of my favorite Almodovar movies. I was amazed at the level of acting and the quality of the script. As always full of sex and full of demonization towards the Catholic Church and its "celibate" priests. Pedro Almodovar usually tells the untold story of the church in Spain in a way that's always cynical and objective. The relationships of love between two men are what most of his most celebrated films are about. Love, sex, murder, and all of the sins of the flesh are also present in this film. In conclusion, this film possesses all of the qualities of a great Almodovar movie. LA LEY DEL DESEO is a Truly Amazing Movie. 10 Stars!!!

Offbeat and sensitive melodrama/Thriller about extreme passions , ¨Amor Fou¨ and a killer on lam , being well acted and directed . Good film including interesting drama , colorful cinematography , sensitive score and fine acting by all-Spanish-star-cast . Almodovar successful thriller/drama , including his ordinary rare characters , twisted situations and eccentric events dealing with a writer/director gay and the men who love him , this sexual disorientation jeopardizes his latest project . As it concerns about a couple of siblings , Pablo and Tina , both of whom have complicated sexual existences . Pablo is homosexual and deeply in love with Juan (Micky Molina) , a young man who won't reply to Pablo's affection . Pablo's brother Tina (Carmen Maura) is a transsexual , angry at men , raising Ada (Manuela Velasco) , and attempting to make it as a player . Pablo takes up with Antonio (Antonio Banderas) , Antonio seeks out Juan , and violence leads to Pablo's grief . Then , it takes place a car crash and Pablo temporarily loss of memory . When memory returns , he learns a dark secret . In horror , Pablo takes on a terrible and disgusting finale .

Enjoyable film full of feeling , rare characters plenty of desire and love , haunting mood-pieces , emotive as well as outrageous images , and sense of style . The picture deals with off-the-wall/intense drama , family absurdities , superb scenes , a haunting meditation on love with dysfunctional roles and many other things . Here deals with existences of the three peculiar roles : a filmmaker , his angry lover and a transsexual whose fates will flow in all directions , past , present and future , dragging all of them towards an unsuspected finale . This strange as well as excessive melodrama/triller/intrigue movie in Douglas Sirk style could only have been made by Almodovar . The picture is acceptable but turns out to be inferior to his subsequent entries such as or ¨Live flesh¨ , ¨The flower of my secret¨ , ¨High heels¨ , ¨Atame¨ , ¨All about my mother¨, ¨Talk to her¨ , all of them strong and outlandish dramas . The result is undiluted scabrous flick , filled with crazy strings of plots and sharp images with thrilling situations . As usual , in the most from Almodóvar films , he uses Latin-American songs in his movies movies , from Rancheras , Boleros to tangos through Mexican and Cuban boleros , Pedro has a great musical taste . Unforgettable scenes when there takes place a peculiar shower , this iconic hose scene was shot twice , the first one wasn't useful because the pressure was so big that Carmen Maura fell down . The second time the scene was shot perfectly, but Maura had to dub herself because of the water noise . The best images happen on the ending of the movie when Tina and Ada are kidnapped and Pablo hurries to Tina's rescue and must face a murderer on loose . Nice actors give awesome interpretations as Eusebio Poncela playing a stressed writer unsettled by a triangular love story , and Antonio Banderas as a youth who becomes jealous of Pablo's love for Juan , the latter well performed by Miguel Molina . I liked everyone in the excellent cast , and the male and female actors , especially Carmen Maura , were all very attractive . Furthermore , a notorious support cast such as Helga Line , Nacho Martínez , Germán Cobos , Bibiana Fernández and other delightfully played roles . And Fernando Guillén as Police inspector and his assistant played by Fernando Guillén Cuervo are father and son both in movie and in real life . In addition , a lot of cameos with frequent Pedro Almodóvar actors appear briefly such as Rossy De Palma , Marta Fernández Muro and Victoria Abril . As usual in most of Pedro's movies , there is a small role for Agustín Almodóvar, his brother and producer of the film who plays a lawyer and the same Pedro Almodóvar as a shopkeeper . Rousing musical score, including some marvelous songs , these are the followings : ¨No Me Quitte Pas" written by Jacques Brel , performed by Maysa Matarazzo , Los Panchos : "Lo Dudo" ('I doubt it') , 'If you go away' with the sweet voice of Emiliana Torrini , "Guardo Che Luna" composed by G. Malgoni . Pedro chooses this kind of songs , Rancheras , Boleros, tangos , etc. have something in common : They are about tragedies , lost love , betrayal , desire , lust , hate and passion . Colorful and luxurious cinematography by Angel Fernandez who photographed Almodóvar's first films as ¨Dark Habits¨ , ¨What Have I Done to Deserve This?" and ¨Matador¨.

This one-of-a-kind picture was realized in his particular style by Pedro Almodovar ; he often uses symbolism and metaphorical techniques to portray circular story lines though here he directs a special melodrama , including his ordinary touches . Almodovar directs throughout with splendid zip and he usually portrays strong female characters and transsexuals and along his career getting some important international prizes . His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980), was made in 16 mm and blown-up to 35 mm for public release . In 1987, he and his brother Agustín Almodóvar established their own production company : El Deseo, S. A. The "Almodóvar phenomenon" has reached all over the world , making his films very popular in many countries . Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar who made successes such as Labyrinth of passions , Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown , Bad education , Broken embraces , The Skin I Live In , Volver and many others . The latest from acclaimed Spanish director , Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited , a mediocre comedy.

As you see from the other users' comments (the ones who liked the film, I mean), the director likes reinventing themes from previous movies. The links are a great insight into what he had wished to convey in his earlier works but hadn't quite fully expressed. It was the same for Ansel Adams, whose most popular work was actually reissues of his older photos, but with different photo exposures and significantly more dramatic contrast. I've loved watching Almodovar's tastes refine through the years (it could be argued that John Waters followed the same artistic maturation at roughly the same time). If you can, please watch this film with Spanish-speaking friends. There's just too much for the subtitles to convey, and you're missing out on facial expressions and backgrounds if your eyes are glued to the subtitles.

"Antonio, abre la puerta!" (sound of fan flinging)

It could be a perfect double bill with Almodovar's own BAD EDUCATION (2004, 8/10), LAW OF DESIRE is his seventh feature film and has a plucky vein of a forthright attitude towards homosexuality and challenges an unconventional yarn of a besotted maniac-suitor's (Banderas) incorrigible fixation of our protagonist, a successful film director Pablo (Poncela), that kind of creepy yet deeply-devoting ardor could instantaneously scare away the recipient and devour one's own, but not like other similar-themed films tackles on a thriller angle, this film has (unexpectedly) romanticized the purified affection as a rarefied empathy, and succumbs to its self-immolated culmination out of the left field.

Meanwhile, the film also painstakingly limns the life of Pablo's sister Tina (Maura), a ham actress, whose outré past will be divulged later in the film to a shocking value with comical casualness thanks to an amnesiac twist, and she carries a paralleled weight which includes a maternal bond with her niece Ada (Velasco).

From what one may expect from Almodovar, the film is less tawdry or garish with its color element, still an over-par indulgence though, LAW OF DESIRE is cluttered with saccharine love letters, explicit homo-erotic scenes, tackling with touchy issues like possessiveness, promiscuity, incest, transsexual, drug abuse and a murder case, with innuendos about priesthood sex scandal, also interpolating a monologue play about a distressed woman named Laura P (starts and ends with a melancholic delivery of "NE ME QUITTE PAS"). It is a fairly self-boosting piece of work, Almodovar always know how to infuse comedic occurrence into his well-drafted plot, even against a harrowing backbone.

As Almodovar's early muse, Maura owns her dominance of the film, the water-spurting on a hot summer night, the rendition of Laura P, the anger and indignity of exposing her veiled past and a face-to-face confession, magnificently dazzling and plain impressive. His male muse, Banderas, has a strapping figure and oozes all the fervor for the man of his life, gritty and arresting. By comparison, leading man Poncela may recede under the guise of a so-so performance, his dearth of personal charisma might not live up to sustain the story in a plausible manner, but his queer bearing is well-presented here. As usual, there are distinctive side characters galore, Velasco proves herself as a blossoming talent and Bibiana Fernández has a short but intensive spell as her negligent mother.

Speaking for myself, Almodovor's canon is always a safe haven, and this one has all his trappings all over the place, and it is male-centered, more self-referential in a way, supposedly more intriguing on this ground.

I have now seen quite a few films by Pedro Almodóvar, but this would have to be the most disappointing so far. This film seemed to lack the zaniness that is usually everywhere in his films, and the story just never got me interested. Many Almodóvar regulars appear in this film, so it's not like there was a lack of on-screen talent, but this film just seemed more serious than his other films. If there was a comedic edge to this movie, I certainly couldn't find it, and it made for one surprisingly weak movie.

I saw this film after having seen Bad Education, and there are many plot lines similar in both. I loved this film, not only am I a huge fan of Almodóvar, but in this film, the easy and simple beauty of the shots stood out. The acting was good, not amazing but good, particularly from Pablo and Tina. As well as directing beautifully, Almodóvar knows how to infuse a scene with sex, even if no sex is actually taking place-for example, when Antonio lights his cigarette of Pablo's. The film does become melodramatic towards the end, but I don't see this as a failing, melodrama, if done well, as it is here, need not be ridiculous

As with my experience with movies I can astutely say a story like this would take 4 or 5 seasons to make for Hollywood and they also would plan on chewing the thrill and getting the rating

But Pedro Almodóvar has stuffed a storm in a tin and blew it right in the eyes.. at first I wasn't expecting a detailed screenplay I thought it would be a indoor based cinematographic story but turned out to be it's the most detailed and shocking screenplay I ever saw & imagine.

I adored The very own peculiar style of Pedro that he opening a relation between two characters in this film. all the names of relations were revealed after a few minutes when set of our guesses have failed perfectly.

Plus the astonishing twisted story the photography was too catchy to miss. And he could have been added a long array of music all over the film but it's so obvious that Pedro wanted to assile with words.. and he succeeded that cent percent.

It's Weird that how theese kinda movies have been out of worlds eyes and the Oscar's

This is not Almodovar's greatest film. The plot and script tends to melodrama, the acting is a little two-dimensional as a result.

Almodovar returns to some themes over and over again in his films, so this film can be seen as an early glimpse of some of the key themes in All About My Mother and Talk To Her, both of which are great films in my view.

But this film is worth seeing. The cinematography and the music are great. Almodovar's Madrid is always lovely to look at. And the plot takes its obvious and inevitable course at reasonable pace, so you don't get bored.

Found this film just scrolling through Amazon. The beginning was interesting and the movie started slow because you're still discovering who's who. To me, the sister was the most intriguing and fascinating character of the movie. Good pace, was never bored. I saw the eventual outcome yet didn't predict the ending. Seeing Antonio Banderas so young was different. Nice find of a gem. I can see why it really is a notable part of gay film culture.

After what seems like a gratuitous gay sex scene (in reality, it's the climax of a movie seen by the stars of this movie), writer/director Pedro Almodóvar gets down to business…

Promiscuous and successful director Eusebio Poncela (as Pablo Quintero) bids young lover Miguel Molina (as Juan Bermúdez) a fond farewell. Mr. Molina must leave Madrid, for the coast; he begs off about duties, but really wants Mr. Poncela to clean up his act. This leaves an opening for likewise handsome young Antonio Banderas (as Antonio Benitez), who was turned on by the film's sexy cinematic beginning, and has been fantasizing about being mounted by Poncela. Mr. Banderas wants plugging with a passion.

After getting himself plucked by Poncela, Banderas begins displaying psychotic, stalker-like behavior. Banderas professes undying love for Poncela, who continues to moon over Molina. Their increasingly dangerous love triangle is sidestepped with attention given to Poncela's transsexual sister and confidante Carmen Maura (as Tina), a single mom. The gay stalker story in "Law of Desire" was likely more intriguing in decades past - but, Mr. Almodóvar's direction and the extraordinary performances hold up very well.

******* La ley del deseo (2/7/87) Pedro Almodóvar ~ Eusebio Poncela, Antonio Banderas, Carmen Maura, Miguel Molina

Pedro Almodovar is a lot like Woody Allen. He delights in neurotic characters (that border on annoying sometimes) and he loves his muses. But unlike Allen, Almodovar happily delves into the realms of camp and revels in it, and it is only from his second coming - All About My Mother - that he reigns it in enough to create a broader appeal that's more accessible to the non-camp inclined.

This movie, which he filmed before the first high point in his career (that would be the manic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), is pure camp, being about a gay playwright who has to juggle a "straight" ex, a straight-turned-gay stalker, and a tranny sister. The opening scene itself is enough to have the movie banned in Singapore, featuring a hot guy being told to simulate gay sex (by himself) while being filmed.

As opposed to the other early Almodovar works, the plot for Desire is actually more coherent, though still way out there. But that's besides the point. The joy of watching an Almodovar movie is predominantly laughing at and with his fantastic characters, and savoring his cinematography, with his trademark bright colors and his ability to capture the seedier and more sordid sides of Spain. Unfortunately, this isn't one of his more colorful movies, with regards to both characters and scenes.

Desire features two of Almodovar's first muses, Antonio Banderas, and Carmen Maura, both of whom perform well. Banderas, in his natural pre-Hollywood fame state, smoulders dangerously as the sexually-confused stalker, and Maura, already a seasoned vet of Almodovar movies by then, brings in the balance of camp and pathos that I'm sure Almodovar wanted for her role, in which she's a woman playing a woman who used to be a man.

It was an enjoyable watch for me, since I've always loved especially Almodovar's brand of camp, but Desire definitely lacks the polish of his later works.

I guess that most people will know what they are letting themselves into. And I say this, because this movie was shown at the Berlin Film Festival this year (2010) as retrospective. I didn't know anything about the story and was quite surprised by the beginning of the movie. And I can tell you, that I'm sure that quite a few people who watch mainstream movies would have walked out of this movie, if they were in this ... but as I said, many most have known.

Apart from a few walk-outs, most people stayed (maybe the even knew the movie, because they had seen it before?). And it changes pace after that "offensive" beginning (thankfully) and becomes more of a personal story. One with many weird and quirky characters. All portrayed very nicely by the actors. And while quite a few scenes have visual or dialog highlights, the movie itself seems to have dated.

It's not only the predictability of the plot, but while the weird mannerisms of the characters are nice, they also tend to obnoxious at times too. As one of the first movies Almodovar made, this is pretty solid, but it won't be everyones taste (not that his newer movies are ... just saying)

This is my first Almodavar film. I'll confess we chose it mainly because we knew this had the enticing prospect of Antonio Banderas in gay sex scenes.

Unfortunately, that is about all that this film has to recommend it. I consider myself a fairly sophisticated viewer, I like European films, "art" films, and I am generally able to recognize a quality film even if it is not to my particular taste.

But this film was a complete blank to me. The plot was ridiculous, the characters lifeless, the box called it a "hilarious comedy" but I didn't laugh once. Loosly and awkwardly constructed, with a lot of pointless dialogue. I don't get this at all-- it seems like an amateurish effort. Can someone enlighten me?