At the centre of this affecting feature sits a blind screenwriter and former director who has abandoned his real name, Mateo Blanco, for a pseudonym, Harry Caine, the first sign of the double life he leads. Harry’s current reality conceals a fascinating past, which Almodóvar spends much of his film detailing. The plot is propelled by the arrival of a brash young man, hot on the heels of news that the producer of Mateo’s film “Girls and Suitcases” has died. The film marked a defining period in Mateo’s life, as both he and his producer had fallen madly in love with a girl who was cast in the project. The simmering Lena had turned both of their worlds inside out. She became the love of Mateo’s life while simultaneously leading a double life with the film’s producer. But it is the young man on his doorstep that intrigues and troubles the now blind Harry. Who is he? Almodóvar skilfully and effortlessly uncovers the secrets of everyone’s various pasts in this steamy, scheming and oh-so-romantic melodrama.
