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Movies / On DVD / The Flower of My Secret
The Flower of My Secret

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The Flower of My Secret (1996)

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Reviews Counted:23

Fresh:19

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7/10

Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET is a surprisingly restrained film (no drag queens, raunchy sex, or murders) from Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, and is considered one of his best. Romance novelist Leo... THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET is a surprisingly restrained film (no drag queens, raunchy sex, or murders) from Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, and is considered one of his best. Romance novelist Leo (Marisa Paredes) experiences a nervous breakdown when she realizes her U.N. peacekeeper husband (Imanol Arias) no longer loves her, and the morbid novel she has just finished will never be accepted by her profit-minded publisher. Depressed, alcoholic, and suicidal, she begins to write for a Spanish newspaper under a pseudonym, starting with a scathing critique of her previous, best-selling work. The paper's hard-drinking, overweight editor Ángel (Juan Echanove) falls in love with Leo, never realizing the "flower of her secret"--that her other pen name is Amanda Gris, and that she is the writer of the romance novels he loves. The delightful cast includes Rossy De Palma and Chus Lampreave--hilarious as Leo's constantly bickering sister and mother--and Carmen Elías as her best friend, a woman who trains doctors in soliciting organ donations from grieving relatives. Almodóvar fills this beautiful film with sharply realized scenes, rich helpings of Spanish flavor, and a vibrant compassion for his characters. [More]

Starring: Marisa Paredes, Carmen Elías, Juan Echanove

Starring: Marisa Paredes, Carmen Elías, Juan Echanove

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for The Flower of My Secret

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/01/08
David Rooney
David Rooney
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If it isn't as successful as his very best work, neither is it a failure -- and there are certainly enough Alomodovarisms to bring a smile to anyone's face

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
10/04/06
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
08/12/06
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
06/25/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Dramatizes the contentious relationship between fiction and reality.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/03/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

an archetypal romantic comedy that reshapes the mold

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
04/14/05
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

I found this dramatization a mature Almodovar work, perceptive and cutting through in an incisive way to the everyday problems in life that wear people down.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/21/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Though The Flower of My Secret is a slight work, it is a pleasing return to form.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Caryn James
Caryn James
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/14/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

The movie is full of familiar Almodovar fare, but it feels freshened.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/11/02
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

Depicts the magical turnaround in the life of a writer of romance novels.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
08/27/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Seems to go in a dozen directions at once but ties up in the final reel into a tight, cohesive and enjoyable whole.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Alex Albanese
Alex Albanese
Boxoffice Magazine

An intimate, beautifully wrought work, it reflects a new maturity in Almodovar's work and is one of his best pictures.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/14/01
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Almodovar has created a film that offers hope to all mad lovers who need it.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barry Walters
Barry Walters
San Francisco Examiner

The film is attentive as well to the clichs that constitute reality and cinematic realism. It manages such complexities by highlighting Almodovar's own exceptional visual sensibility, which crosses over all kinds of boundaries.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia City Paper | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper

It's a witty, intelligent scramble, and it's beautifully mounted.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle

It's bland as often as it is affecting, and presents little that's new or original.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

If Leo appears to be doing some more or less orthodox movie-style suffering -- crying jags, a suicide attempt and the like -- perhaps that's just what she's supposed to be doing.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeff Millar
Jeff Millar
Houston Chronicle

A ripe, entertaining soap opera.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
01/01/00
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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