In Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother, mother doesn't know best and that makes for a most intriguing journey of discovery.

 All Esteban (Eloy Azorin) wants for his 18th birthday is for his mother Manuela (Cecilia Roth) to tell him about his father.

 Manuela vows to break her silence, but tragedy intervenes, sending Manuela back to the town where her odyssey of love and despair began.

 All About My Mother ranks with such Almodovar classics as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

 Like them, it is an uncompromising look at the many faces of love and desire -- especially from a female viewpoint. In All About My Mother, Almodovar is intrigued with the concept of femininity and how it leads to various forms of romantic expression.

 Like many latin filmmakers, Almodovar sees women as saints and sinners.

 Manuela's long-time friend Agrado (Antonia San Juan) was not born a woman, but chose to be one.

 Famed stage actress Huma (Marisa Paredes) is a lesbian whose lover is a cocaine addict. Nun Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz) gives her virginity to a dying man, absolving him of his sins and accepting his earthly burdens.

 Through their shared friendships, the four women learn to accept the trials and sorrows fate has dealt them.

 Roth is a commanding actress with a forceful screen presence. She delivers a tour de force performance that could easily nab her an Oscar nomination.

 Almodovar is a filmmaker who loves his medium and knows how to exploit it for shocks and sentiment.

 All About My Mother is all about people with all their desires and foibles exposed.

(This film is rated AA)

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