Live Flesh

1997 [SPANISH]

Action / Drama

31
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 86% · 45 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 86% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.3/10 10 35288 35.3K

adultery adolescence prostitute sexual abuse drug abuse sexual obsession

Plot summary

When Victor attempts to seduce Elena, all he gets for his trouble is a one-way, six-year ticket to prison, where he concentrates on strengthening his mind, his body... and his desire for vengeance on the man who put him there. After his release and still madly in love with her, Victor will stop at nothing to win her over even if means revenge, for Elena has married David, the cop who sent him to prison!

Director

Pedro Almodóvar Photo
Pedro Almodóvar

Top cast

Agustín Almodóvar Photo
Agustín Almodóvar as Enterrador
Ángela Molina Photo
Ángela Molina as Clara
Javier Bardem Photo
Javier Bardem as David de Paz
Penélope Cruz Photo
Penélope Cruz as Isabel Plaza Caballero
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
925.28 MB
1280*538
Spanish 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
24 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 4
1.68 GB
1904*800
Spanish 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
24 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 21

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by leandros 8 / 10

Mature but not tamed

Almodovar has always been the king of kitsch, the naughty, the pervert (who isn't anyway?), the generator of endless dirty language conversations, the good the bad and the ugly of the movie world. Well, he seems to have grown mature, but not tamed in that sense. He probably will be strongly criticized for the oral sex scene, on grounds that he is abusing disabled individuals, just like he was almost damned by feminists because of the looong rape scene in Kika. Well, although he seems to have moved away from his bright colors and chaotic chasing sequences, and although Live Flesh is to the best of my knowledge the first movie where he openly praises the post-Franco era, it was as tasteful as its predecessors. And who can build up such a web of events and relations better than Almodovar does, anyway?
Reviewed by Red-Barracuda 8 / 10

Well orchestrated melodrama

This Pedro Almodovar movie was the second film – after The Flower of My Secret – where he toned things down and went for a more serious approach. Having said that, it's still very much a melodrama. Its story is simultaneously simple and complex. It basically is about how one gunshot changes the lives of five people. It starts out appearing one way but as we get to know the participants we discover their differing motivations on that fateful night. Everyone seems to be suffering because of the actions of another. Every character is a shade of grey, no one is innocent and the film is about guilt and redemption as much as anything. Once you think back on the story you only then realise how complex a web of deceit and betrayal has been woven by all of the participants. Some have also mentioned that it is an allegorical story about Spain's recent history. While there is an interesting opening segment set in 1970 in Franco's regime, I honestly couldn't tell you what the allegory actually is. Maybe it's a cultural thing or perhaps I'm just too dumb to have noticed. But regardless of this, Live Flesh can easily be appreciated without this.
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