All About My Mother
On April 8, 1999, Pedro Almodovar's film "Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)" premiered in Spain.
A month after the start of the demonstration of the film "Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)" in all of Spain, the film was presented at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the main prize - the Palme d'Or. However, the jury of the film festival, chaired by Canadian film director David Cronenberg, awarded this prize to the Franco-Belgian film by the Dardenne brothers "Rosetta". According to one of the most authoritative Russian film critics, Andrey Plakhov,
"If the Cannes jury was not headed by an overly radical Cronenberg, Pedro Almodóvar would certainly have received the Palme d'Or. His film "All about My Mother" was unanimously recognized as the leader of the festival..."
However, Pedro Almodóvar did not remain without an award: he was awarded the prize as the Best Director.
Apparently, Andrei Plakhov quite rightly appreciated the role of Cronenberg in the decision of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival, since in the same year the European Film Academy (without the participation of the Canadian) awarded the film Pedro Almodóvar its prize, despite the fact that "Rosetta" also took part in the competition.
In the following year, 2000, Pedro Almodóvar's film "Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)" literally made a triumphal march through the festival venues of the world. It first won the American Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Then, in the same category, it was awarded the Academy Award. Then it was awarded two British BAFTA Awards: for Best Director and for Best Foreign Language Film. Then it won the Danish film award Bodil as the best non-American film. And finally, the French and Italian film academies awarded this film their prizes, respectively, Cesar and David di Donatello.
Needless to say, at home in Spain, Pedro Almodóvar's film "All about My Mother" received 14 nominations for the main Spanish Goya Film Award, of which it won 7, including the most important ones: as the Best film and for the Best director.
The vast majority of reviews from film critics were enthusiastic and laudatory. Perhaps only Jonathan Rosenbaum disparaged the film Pedro Almodóvar as about
"transsexual soap opera by aging Spanish enfant terrible".
According to Roger Ebert, who, however, did not give the film the highest possible rating, but gave only three and a half stars out of four possible, noted in his review:
"though two of its characters are transvestite hookers, one is a pregnant nun and two more are battling lesbians, this is a film that paradoxically expresses family values".
To some extent, the above-mentioned Andrei Plakhov develops and continues Ebert's idea, when in his review he notes that Pedro Almodóvar
"considers it his duty to show sympathy for the weak - and not out of political correctness. It does not protect "minorities", but individual human weaknesses and deep feelings in an era of total standardization and a new totalitarianism on the part of multi-media."
The rating of the film by ordinary moviegoers is characterized by the following figures. With a budget of almost $ 5 million, the film collected almost $ 68 million worldwide, i.e., it paid off more than 13 times. 68% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film "Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)" a score of 8 or higher.
With that said, the rating of Pedro Almodóvar's film "Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)" was 10,773, which allowed this film to take the 16th place in the Golden Thousand.
