Labyrinth of Passion
(Laberinto de pasiones)
Screening on Film
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar.
With Cecilia Roth, Imanol Arias, Helga Liné.
Spain, 1982, 35mm, color, 99 min.
Spanish with English subtitles.
Print source: Filmoteca Española
With Cecilia Roth, Imanol Arias, Helga Liné.
Spain, 1982, 35mm, color, 99 min.
Spanish with English subtitles.
Print source: Filmoteca Española
A departure from the punk spirit of Luci, Pepi, Bom…, Almodóvar’s second feature offers a stylish blend of Hitchcock and screwball comedy that reveals his innate talent at imitating and reinventing Hollywood gloss. While Labyrinth of Passion centers on the converging paths of two sex-crazed unfortunates, the film also orchestrates a larger cast and a delirious pastiche of hot-button topics ranging from incest to Islamic terrorism to Lacanian psychoanalysis, all colored with the polymorphous pansexuality found throughout Almodóvar’s earliest works.