Pedro Almodóvar directed this story of a woman and her circle of friends who find themselves suffering a variety of emotional crises. Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is a single mother who has raised her son, Esteban (Eloy Azorín), to adulthood on her own and has come to emotionally depend on him. One night, Manuela and Esteban take in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire; after the show, Esteban is struck and killed by a passing motorist as he dashes into the street to get an autograph from Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), who played Blanche. Emotionally devastated, Manuela relocates to Barcelona in hopes of finding her ex-husband (and Esteban's father), who is now working as a female impersonator. Manuela becomes reacquainted with old friend La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a transsexual, and is introduced to Sister Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a good-hearted nun who has to contend with her considerably more cynical mother (Rosa María Sardà). While looking for work, Manuela becomes acquainted with Huma Rojo. Huma, on the other hand, has troubles of her own, most involving her drug-addicted significant other, Nina (Candela Peña). Displaying Almodóvar's trademark visual style and a unusually strong sense of character-driven drama, Todo Sobre Mi Madre/All About My Mother received a highly anticipated theatrical run in Spain before winning the Best Director award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival; in 2000, Almodóvar would receive the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mark Deming, Rovi
Regis Wargnier's epic about French Indochina -- from the years of French colonial imperialism to the days when American presence made itself felt and the country became known as Vietnam -- is a story of romance and separation told through the backdrop of a country in turmoil. The film centers on the relationship of the beautiful and imperious Eliane (Catherine Deneuve), a French rubber-plantation owner, and Camille (Linh Dan Pham), her adopted Indochinese daughter. The mother and daughter are very close until a diffident naval officer, Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez) enters their lives. Eliane is in love with him, but Jean-Baptiste and Camille become attracted to each other and fall in love. Thinking that she is doing Camille a favor, Eliane arranges to have Jean-Baptiste transferred to the far-away Tonkin Islands. But Camille flees the plantation to go to the man she loves. As she travels the country, she gains a greater knowledge and respect for the people of her homeland. When the government tears her from Jean-Baptiste and their infant child and arrests her for crimes against the state, she becomes politicized and becomes a supporter of the communists in the country's civil war. As the country rocks in turmoil, Eliane becomes a personification of France, coolly walking amid her peasant workers, neither bowed nor afraid, grimly looking westward. Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Genre: Epic, Suspense & Thriller, Comedy Drama, Romance, Action/Adventure
- Category Feminist Film, Martial Arts, Ensemble Film, Romantic Epic, Reunion Films, Romantic Adventure, Period Film, Chase Movie
- Theme: Love Triangles, Political Unrest, Mothers and Daughters, Women's Friendship, Haunted By the Past, Mothers and Sons, Starting Over, Culture Clash
- Studio: Columbia TriStar
- Run Time: 07 hr 39 min
- Edition: Special Edition
- Language: French, Spanish, German, Mandarin_chinese, English
- Subtitle Language: English, Spanish, French
- Picture Format: pan_and_scan, widescreen
- Release Date: March 5, 2002
- Lead Actor: Ludger Pistor, Chow Yun-Fat, Catherine Deneuve, Franka Potente, Cecilia Roth
- Supporting Actor: Henri Marteau, Nina Petri, Sihung Lung, Joachim Krol, Dominique Blanc, Antonia San Juan, Chang Chen, Linh-Dan Pham, Candela Peña, Zhang Ziyi, Herbert Knaup, Jean Yanne, Moritz Bleibtreu, Michelle Yeoh, Marisa Paredes, Vincent Perez, Nhu Quynh, Thibault de Montalembert, Jean-Baptiste Huynh, Cayetana Guillen Cuervo, Trinh Van-thinh, Nguyen Lan Trung, Tien Tho, Eric Nguyen, Lars Rudolph, Cheng Pei-Pei, Mai Chau, Heino Ferch, Toni Canto, Thi Hoe Tranh Huu Trieu, Carlo Brandt, Gerard Lartigau, Hubert Saint-Macary, Andrzej Seweryn, Alain Fromager, Chu Hung, Armin Rohde, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Fernando Guillén, Penélope Cruz, Eloy Azorín, Rosa María Sardà
- Director: Regis Wargnier, Ang Lee, Tom Tykwer, Pedro Almodóvar