Law of Desire (1987)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Pedro Almodovar is a lot like Woody Allen. He delights in neurotic characters (that border on annoying sometimes) and he loves his muses. But unlike Allen, Almodovar happily delves into the realms of camp and revels in it, and it is only from his second coming - All About My Mother - that he reigns it in enough to create a broader appeal that's more accessible to the non-camp inclined.This movie, which he filmed before the first high point in his career (that would be the manic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), is pure camp, being about a gay playwright who has to juggle a "straight" ex, a straight-turned-gay stalker, and a tranny sister. The opening scene itself is enough to have the movie banned in Singapore, featuring a hot guy being told to simulate gay sex (by himself) while being filmed.As opposed to the other early Almodovar works, the plot for Desire is actually more coherent, though still way out there. But that's besides the point. The joy of watching an Almodovar movie is predominantly laughing at and with his fantastic characters, and savoring his cinematography, with his trademark bright colors and his ability to capture the seedier and more sordid sides of Spain. Unfortunately, this isn't one of his more colorful movies, with regards to both characters and scenes.Desire features two of Almodovar's first muses, Antonio Banderas, and Carmen Maura, both of whom perform well. Banderas, in his natural pre-Hollywood fame state, smoulders dangerously as the sexually-confused stalker, and Maura, already a seasoned vet of Almodovar movies by then, brings in the balance of camp and pathos that I'm sure Almodovar wanted for her role, in which she's a woman playing a woman who used to be a man.It was an enjoyable watch for me, since I've always loved especially Almodovar's brand of camp, but Desire definitely lacks the polish of his later works.

This is my second favourite Almodovar film, after "Hable con Ella". It reveals the depth of the characters' feelings with such subtlety and delicacy that as viewers we find ourselves unable to judge the characters' actions. We are puzzled by the intensity of their desire, love and misery in the same way that we are puzzled by Benigno's deep loneliness and longing for love in "Hable con Ella". In "La ley del Deseo," murder and suicide become extreme natural consequences of the characters' love and suffering. We cannot condemn the murder any more than we can condemn the rape in "Hable con Ella".

This is not Almodovar's greatest film. The plot and script tends to melodrama, the acting is a little two-dimensional as a result. Almodovar returns to some themes over and over again in his films, so this film can be seen as an early glimpse of some of the key themes in All About My Mother and Talk To Her, both of which are great films in my view.But this film is worth seeing. The cinematography and the music are great. Almodovar's Madrid is always lovely to look at. And the plot takes its obvious and inevitable course at reasonable pace, so you don't get bored.

One of director Almodovars early films--and one of his best. A gay writer is basically stalked by a psychopath. The films manages to weave together comedy, drama and tragedy and make them all work! Also it manages to work in fairly explicit gay sex scenes and male nudity without it being exploitative--it just fits the storyline and characters. The movie takes a serious misstep about halfway through, throwing in a murder, but manages to regain its footing. The acting is pretty good--not great. Antonio Banderas is so-so as the psycho. I give him credit for engaging in gay sex scenes with no hesitation (I'd love to know what he thinks about this movie now!). The best thing about the movie is the direction--even when the story bogs down in spots, there's always something to look at on screen. Almodovar knows how to make films look beautiful and he, somehow, manages to have the settings fit the tone of the scene. How many directors can you say that about. An excellent film--well worth seeing. But if you're offended by explicit gay subject matter, stay away.