runamokprods Sweet, and very well acted. This is much less wild and outrageous than earlier Almodovar, but compensates by having more real emotion. Still, this has two of his usual key elements -- dramatic use of intense color, and a melodramatic, almost soapy, story. It's clear he loves melodrama at the same time he gently pokes fun at it. But in 'Flower of My Secret' the soap has more underpinnings in humanity, with subtler behavior and humor. Technically he gets even better with this film. It's beautiful, shot in a more subdued style than his earlier work. Not a great movie, but a good, entertaining, human one that paves the way to his later fully 'real' and moving masterpieces like 'Talk to Her'. Lovely performances.There seem to be two distinct groups among Almodovar fans. Those who prefer his earlier, wilder, more genre busting work, and those who prefer his more recent, subtler films. I'm in the second group, but can completely understand those who feel differently. And where you fall on that scale is likely to have a big impact on your reaction to this film.

gradyharp Some viewers have placed this exciting film 'La Flor de mi secreto' into the 'not up to standard' Pedro Almodóvar films, a classification this viewer finds difficult to understand. Filmed in the luxuriously colorful palette (especially the repeated use of the color red in every scene) that has become his trademark, set with a musical score that includes Spanish song and guitar and flamenco, and introducing a wildly disparate group of over-the-top women played by a bevy of fine actresses - it all seems echt Almodóvar to me. No, there is not the outrageous side of gender bending that suffuses many of his more popular films, but there is a fine story that resonates throughout this remarkable movie that makes it very much worth the attention of lovers of Spanish cinema.The film opens during the credits on a woman being informed that her 16-year old son is brain dead as a result of a motorcycle accident and two young doctors (including the irrepressible young Jordi Molla) are trying to convince her to allow the respirator to be disconnected and the boy's organs harvested for donor transplant. Sad, tense though this opening is we discover soon enough that the trio are actors making a demo film for medical personnel to learn to deal with such possible family encounters! Point: what appears to be a tragedy becomes a 'farcical depiction' guided by a seminar leader Betty (Carmen Elías). Flash into a different scene and we me Leo (the immensely talented Almodóvar favorite Marisa Paredes), depressed to the extreme over the failure of her marriage to her beloved Paco (Imanol Arias), a NATO 'soldier' who took assignments as far from Leo as possible. Now Leo continues to write her trashy novels she has never had published while clinging to the Paco (she wears his clothes, currently his boots) she cannot recover. Noting that the boots are too tight she leaves her typewriter to flee into the streets to find someone to remove the painful boots and after frustrating encounters with less than helpful people, she turns to her best friend Betty (yes, at a seminar!) who successfully removes the shoes. It seems Paco had an affair with Betty, a fact that further flails at Leo's pain. Betty assuages her by introducing her to a literary editor Ángel (Juan Echanove) who asks Leo to come on staff as a critic - most particularly to review the 'example manuscript' Leo has presented him in applying for the job. The reaction is predictable and Leo is at odds with how to continue her life.Along the way of the story Leo gets advice from her hilarious mother and sister (Chus Lampreave and Rossy De Palma in typical Almodóvar creations!) and from her maid Blanca (Manuela Vargas) and Blanca's son Antonio (Joaquín Cortés) who perform Spanish ballet as a side line (and incredibly well, too - with some wonderful flamencoesque moments of artistic relief). Coincidences happen that allow Leo to ultimately catch a new perspective on her life without Paco - in a most unexpected way.So what is not to love about this Almodóvar opus? For this viewer, absolutely nothing. It is a delight from beginning to end and deserves reconsideration in placement in the gifted director's echelon of works. Highly Recommended.

gcotrell Flor is one of Pedro's understated best. The incomparable Marisa Paredes gives this film its ultimate power. Her extraordinary face details every nuance of the loss of her marriage--"abandonment," as Sr. Almodovar labels it. The rich flamenco scenes reframe the passion and pain Marisa's character moves through during the film. And as nearly always, Sr. A. pays homage here to other works that have informed his vision--a barrage of brilliant and troubled women writers (Djuna Barnes, Dorothy Parker, Carson McCullers, et al.), and "Casablanca" and "Rich and Famous," for instance. I thank God for Pedro. Without him, life would be as the lyrics of the Bola de Nieve song in this film--"no me dejes vivir."

rosscinema Pedro Almodovar is easily one of the most interesting filmmakers in the world today and most of his films are in a strange way tongue in cheek, despite the premise of the story! But in this film its a more serious Almodovar story and while never boring, I'm not sure it succeeds on the level it wants. Story is about a woman who is a very famous writer but writes under a pseudonym. She hates her own work and is hired by a magazine to do a story on herself (They don't know she is the same person). Marisa Paredes is Leo and as she enters middle age she seems to be going through a mid-life crisis. She drinks to much and her marriage is falling apart. Her husband Paco (Imanol Aris) is in the military and always gone. Its evident he does not miss her but Leo looks forward to when he comes home. Definitely a more somber and straight laced story by one of the most irreverent directors in ages. Paredes is always captivating and she seems at ease playing women with deep rooted problems. Film follows her as Leo must learn all over again how to enjoy life and most important, to like herself! Slow moving film as some genuine moments from Paredes but its not one of Almodovars better efforts.