CANNES -- Penelope Cruz gets naked, but not nasty, in the enchanting new comedy by her Spanish mentor, the flamboyant Pedro Almodovar of Volver fame.

All the love scenes in his cheeky melodrama Broken Embraces are comedy, tragedy or both.

But never sleazy.

Or even erotic.

"I have never seen a love scene shot that way," Cruz said yesterday before Broken Embraces debuted last night at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. She was referring to one specific scene that symbolized the whole movie.

In response to a Sun Media question, Cruz said she showed up on set with no idea what her director would do for the crucial Ibiza scene, where she is bedded by co-star Jose Luis Gomez. He plays a manipulative tycoon who has an obsessive interest in her.

Meanwhile, Almodovar was out in the street re-writing the scene, trying to find a unique way of shooting it.

No one was to disturb him.

Then Almodovar returned and electrified cast and crew on what he wanted to do -- and why. All the viewer sees, as Cruz and Gomez thrash about, are sheets moving. It is like a performance art piece -- amusing, mysterious and bizarre.

After the apparent climaxes, the naked Cruz emerges, leaves, does her makeup, and returns thinking that Gomez might now be dead.

It doesn't seem to bother her.

"That day," Cruz said of her excitement about the drama built into a single scene, "I thought I was going to pass out. Because the whole day was incredible.

"Nothing is simple. Nothing is gratuitous.

"And the movie takes a life of her own and dictates to him. The integrity he brings to that is incredible. I have so much respect for him."

Broken Embraces, set for release in North America in November, is unlikely to win the Palme d'Or from Isabelle Huppert's jury as the best film at Cannes 2009.

But it has earned attention and respect. Meanwhile, Almodovar has already set his Cannes departure for Saturday.

The awards are on Sunday.

Yesterday, he teased reporters by suggesting he does not expect the Palme d'Or -- but he would be happy to return to Cannes on Sunday if necessary.

Laughed, cried, cringed

The tone of Cannes competition this year careens from one extreme to another.

Pedro Almodovar says of Broken Embraces, "I wanted to make a comedy." Apparently, his film is also a metaphor for the emergence of democratic Spain after the death of the despised fascist dictator Franco. Nevertheless, it is genuinely funny, especially for his fans.

Meanwhile, Ang Lee says he was eager to make a comedy -- the Saturday competition entry Taking Woodstock -- after a string of tragedies, including Brokeback Mountain. Then he mocked the possibility of winning a big Cannes award. "To be perfectly honest, I don't even know if they have a Golden Something for comedy here. This movie for me is about happiness -- and I am so happy to have come across this story."

Ken Loach also made his funniest film in years -- or ever -- with Looking for Eric at Cannes, in competition on Monday.

The maverick Briton says he was trying to lighten it up after films such as The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

"Well, we had done a couple of films that were really quite tough," Loach says, "and we thought it might be nice to do a film with a smile on our faces.

"But you can say a comedy is a tragedy with a happy ending. And the story in this film could go many different ways. It could be a tragedy. But, equally, it could be a comedy. I guess we felt we had to play the story with truth."

The truth is a lot of other competition films are dark and often violent. Bright Star is a good romantic tragedy; The Prophet is stunning, but violent; Vengeance is brilliant genre work, but gory; and films such as Kinatay and Antichrist have been rejected here as bloody trash.

Woody & Pedro

Penelope Cruz adores both Woody Allen, who directed her to an Oscar in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Pedro Almodovar, who directed her to an Oscar nomination in Volver.

"But they could not be more different," she says.

Among many examples are the rehearsals.

"With Pedro, we always rehearse for a long time. Woody doesn't like to rehearse. He likes everybody to improvise and it's a really, really different way of working."

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