Leid und Herrlichkeit (2019)

Leid und Herrlichkeit: Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. With Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas. A film director reflects on the choices he’s made in life as the past and present come crashing down around him.

“With this gorgeous and unashamedly autobiographical memory piece, Pedro Almodóvar returns to his very best form and certainly gives us his best film in over a decade. u0026quot;Pain and Gloryu0026quot; finds director Salvador Mallo, (Antonio Banderas in a career-best performance and clearly modelled on Almodóvar), looking back over his life and loves as he deals with his addictions, his chronic pain and a newfound appreciation of his work. Itu0026#39;s a film that is both honest and deeply moving but one that is often very funny, too. Almodóvar wouldnu0026#39;t be who he is without that wicked sense of humour that made his early films so enjoyable but this is an altogether deeper and more profound film than anything heu0026#39;s done in years.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCross-cutting between his childhood with a loving mother, (Penelope Cruz, wonderful), and a largely absent father and his present as he revisits his past in the form of the men in his life, the actor who once let him down and to whom he hasnu0026#39;t spoken in 30 years and the former lover who comes to visit. Salvador is a man determined to lay his ghosts to rest as I am sure Almodóvar wants to here. Banderas, as I said, has never been better and as the men in his life, Asier Etxeandia (the actor), Leonardo Sbaraglia, (the lover) and Cesar Vicente, (the boy who becomes Salvadoru0026#39;s u0026#39;First Desireu0026#39;) are all outstanding while both Cruz and Julieta Serrano perfectly capture his mother at different stages in his life. This is a remarkable film from a great director too long absent from our screens and one we thought long past his best. This is proof heu0026#39;s home and hopefully, home for good.”