Carne trémula (1997) - film review

In Madrid, 1970, a prostitute gives birth to a son on a bus.  Twenty years later, that son, Victor, finds himself in prison for his part in the shooting of a police officer, David.  The incident happened whilst he attempted to force his attentions on Elena, a girl he had met at a disco the week before and with whom he wanted to pursue a relationship.  Elena produced a gun, which went off accidentally.  Two police officers arrived – David and his heavy drinking partner Sancho – and in the ensuing mêlée David was shot and ended up wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.  Whilst David rebuilds his life and becomes a world class para-athlete, Victor spends his time in prison studying for a degree.  Six years later, Victor leaves prison only to learn that his mother has recently died.  At the cemetery where she is buried, Victor sees a funeral which is attended by David and his now wife Elena.  Still bitter for having lost six years of his life, Victor plans to take his revenge on David and Elena.  However, David is equally hostile towards Victor, and when Victor begins to have an affair with Sancho’s wife, he sees an opportunity to get even...

Carne trémula (a.k.a. Live Flesh) is the film that changed overnight many people’s perceptions of director Pedro Almodóvar and marks a turning point in the career of the man who is now regarded as the greatest Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel.  Previously, Almodóvar had been associated with flamboyant melodramas that were characterised by the most gloriously unrestrained artistic excesses and over the top performances.  Carne trémula is just as visually striking and distinctive as any of Almodóvar’s earlier films, but it is a much more considered and restrained work, the closest the director had so far come to presenting a realistic drama with believable characters, albeit within the framework of a blackly comedic erotic thriller.

Interestingly (although perhaps not surprisingly), this is Pedro Almodóvar’s first adaptation of a novel – Ruth Rendell’s Live Flesh (the rights of which were acquired by the director ten years before he made the film).  The top notch cast includes Javier Bardem, regarded by many as the finest Spanish actor of his generation, and Ángela Molina, who is perhaps best known for playing the part of Conchita in Buñuel’s Cet obscur objet du désir (1977).  The performances are without exception excellent, particularly Molina’s, who gives the film the kind of truth, pathos and emotional depth that few would expect to find in an Almodóvar film.

In the light of what came after it, Carne trémula can clearly be seen as a transition film for its director, as to a lesser extent, was its immediate predecessor La Flor de mi secreto (1995).    In his subsequent work, Almodóvar would retain something of the extravagance, passion and provocative character of his earlier films, but these would be tempered by a growing maturity of style and a greater awareness of the power of cinema and its possibilities for artistic expression.  With age comes wisdom, and with wisdom some stunning cinema.

© James Travers 2008

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