Grief, desire, and the dangerous business of turning life into art collide in Pedro Almodóvar’s latest richly layered melodrama. After the death of her mother, Elsa, a successful advertising director, throws herself into work until a personal crisis sends her on a trip to Lanzarote with a close friend. Meanwhile, a filmmaker struggling with his own creative drought begins writing a screenplay that bears an uncanny resemblance to Elsa’s life. As the two stories intertwine, the boundary between reality and fiction dissolves, raising provocative questions about artistic inspiration, emotional exploitation, and the people whose lives become someone else’s stories.

Ed Potton — The Times ★★★★☆ “Full of wit and self-awareness.”

Jonathan Holland — Screen Daily “Multi-layered, cunningly crafted.”