A nurse caring for a comatose young dancer develops a strange yet intimate friendship with a writer who awaits the recovery of his lover, a bullfighter who has been gored. A series of jumps in time reveal many surprising twists in the development of the relationships between each of the comatose women and their respective male companions. Framed by a moving Pina Bausch spectacle, this relatively restrained melodrama received international acclaim (including a surprise Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay). Despite his acclaim as a “women’s director,” Almodóvar proves equally adept at constructing complex male characters.