This film from director Pedro Almodóvar is centred on two men; Benigno Martín and Marco Zuluaga. They first meet when they are seated next to each other in a theatre; they don't exchange a word but Benigno notices Marco's emotional reaction to the piece. We then see how Benigno works at a clinic where he cares for Alicia, a ballerina, who has been in a coma for four years. Meanwhile Marco, a journalist, is trying to secure an interview with Lydia, a matador. They become friends but then she is gored in the bullring and ends up in a coma; Marco is told there is almost no chance that she will ever recover. As he visits her he meets Benigno in the clinic. He encourages Marco to talk to Lydia but he doesn't see the point. In the events that follow we discover secrets and events take a sinister turn as we learn more about one of the men.
As one would expect from Almodóvar this film is more about characters than events. The events we do see are there to advance character development and bring the two men together. The two main characters are interesting with Javier Cámara and Darío Grandinetti impressing as Benigno and Marco respectively. Over the course of the film the characters develop in ways one might not expect as we see what a first appears to be tender love is really dangerous obsession. This is all the more disturbing as we are initially encouraged to like the character. The film is shot in a naturalistic way that suits the material. It must be admitted that there is material in the film that will bother some viewers; most notably scenes of bullfighting and a film within the film that includes a scene of a 'miniature man' climbing over then entering a woman's naked body. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of Almodóvar's other films but it certainly won't be for everybody.
These comments are based on watching in Spanish with English subtitles.
