Search - Live Flesh on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Profanity Movie Release: 1997 DVD Release: 04/10/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 41 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 11 Genres: Drama, Psychological Drama, Erotic Drama, Melodrama

This Pedro Almodóvar melodrama examines how several lives are changed by a single gunshot. Adapting the novel Live Flesh by British mystery author Ruth Rendell, Almodóvar has given the material a Spanish makeover with added political thrust. Beginning in 1970 in Franco's Madrid, when a prostitute (Penelope Cruz) gives birth to a son, Victor, the story leaps forward to contemporary Madrid. Wealthy diplomat's daughter Elena (Francesca Neri) is watching Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de La Cruz (1955) while waiting for the arrival of her heroin dealer, and she buzzes Victor (Liberto Rabal) (with whom she made a date, then forgot about him) into the building. In the confusion that follows, two cops, David (Javier Bardem) and Sancho (Jose Sancho) arrive, and a gun goes off. The story then makes another leap to four years later: Victor is in prison, while Elena, no longer on drugs, runs a disadvantaged children's shelter and is married to wheelchair-bound David. After his release, Victor visits his mother's grave and spots David and Elena at the cemetery -- where David meets philandering wife Clara (Angela Molina). Fate interweaves the tangled interrelationships of all into a complex tapestry of destiny and guilt. Shown at 1997 London and New York film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Javier Bardem - David
Francesca Neri - Elena
Liberto Rabal - Victor
Ángela Molina - Clara
Jose Sancho - Sancho
Penélope Cruz - Isabelle

Pedro Almodóvar's sexually charged thriller gets little in the way of frills for its American release on DVD, though the results look fine. The feature has been transferred in letterbox format, conforming to its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio (the image has also been enhanced for playback on widescreen monitors), and the Castilian-language soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (for those who don't speak the language, the feature has also been encoded with optional subtitles in English, French, and Spanish). The film's only bonus feature is a trailer, but the quality of the presentation still makes this a worthy purchase for fans of the iconoclastic Almodovar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide