The psychological study that is the author's trademark is reduced to superficial and negative motivation - lust, guilt, revenge, escape.
Live Flesh(Carne trémula)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Spain, France · 1997
Rated R · 1h 43m
Director Pedro Almodóvar
Starring Liberto Rabal, Francesca Neri, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz
Genre Drama, Romance, Thriller
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
After having casual sex, Victor wants to see Elena again, but she is uninterested. Their heated exchange alerts cops, causing a standoff where Victor severely injures a cop with an accidental gunshot. Years later, Victor takes revenge on Elena and the policemen who put him behind bars on that fateful day.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Live Flesh isn't terrible. It's accomplished and watchable.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Some of the action is as lurid as the title, but passionate performances and ingenious visuals make this the most absorbing movie by Spanish director Almodvar since his great comedy "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Everything (not just the flesh) is vibrant with life.
Chicago Reader by Lisa Alspector
It's all very clever but not really provocative - though a layer of political subtext may make the scenario seem funnier and more meaningful.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Almodovar is positively mature, adapting a novel by Ruth Rendell so deftly that the plot now also describes the invigorating and sometimes disorienting effects of democracy after long years of repression under the Franco regime.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Live Flesh lacks freshness.
Austin Chronicle by Russell Smith
Possibly due to the story's origin as a Ruth Rendell novel, this is the most coherent, viewer-friendly narrative he's ever filmed.
Users who liked this film also liked
All About My Mother
(Todo sobre mi madre)
After Manuela’s teenage son Esteban is tragically killed, she searches for Esteban’s biological father, a transgender woman.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, France • 1999
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penélope Cruz, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Rosa María Sardà
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
(¡Átame!)
A love story... With strings attached.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 1990
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Loles León, María Barranco, Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano
- Genre Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Law of Desire
(La ley del deseo)
A story of love, loss, obsession, and art.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 1987
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Antonio Banderas, Carmen Maura, Eusebio Poncela, Miguel Molina, Manuela Velasco, Bibiana Fernández
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance, Thriller, Mystery
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Flower of My Secret
(La flor de mi secreto)
Every woman has a secret...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, France • 1995
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Marisa Paredes, Juan Echanove, Carme Elias, Rossy de Palma, Chus Lampreave, Kiti Mánver
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Dark Habits
(Entre tinieblas)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 1983
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Cristina Sánchez Pascual, Will More, Laura Cepeda, Miguel Zúñiga, Julieta Serrano, Marisa Paredes
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
High Heels
(Tacones lejanos)
In this melodrama, a tense reunion between mother and daughter becomes even more complicated after a sudden murder.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, France • 1991
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Victoria Abril, Marisa Paredes, Miguel Bosé, Anna Lizaran, Mayrata O'Wisiedo, Cristina Marcos
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Dance with the Devil
(Perdita Durango)
Get On The Road.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, Mexico, United States • 1997
- Director Álex de la Iglesia
- Cast Rosie Perez, Javier Bardem, Harley Cross, Aimee Graham, James Gandolfini, Screamin' Jay Hawkins
- Genre Action, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla
The Fish Child
(El niño pez)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, France, Spain • 2009
- Director Lucía Puenzo
- Cast Inés Efrón, Mariela Vitale, Pep Munné, Diego Velázquez, Carlos Bardem, Arnaldo André
- Genre Drama, Thriller, Romance
- Available on Kanopy
The Official Story
(La historia oficial)
Our Moving Story
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina • 1985
- Director Luis Puenzo
- Cast Norma Aleandro, Héctor Alterio, Hugo Arana, Guillermo Battaglia, Chela Ruiz, Patricio Contreras
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Heat and Dust
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1983
- Director James Ivory
- Cast Julie Christie, Greta Scacchi, Nickolas Grace, Shashi Kapoor, Christopher Cazenove, Zakir Hussain
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Pasolini
A kaleidoscopic look at the last day of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium, Italy • 2014
- Director Abel Ferrara
- Cast Willem Dafoe, Giada Colagrande, Riccardo Scamarcio, Maria de Medeiros, Ninetto Davoli, Adriana Asti
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles
(Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas)
Surrealist Luis Buñuel is left penniless after a scandal surrounding his first film, but his friend buys a lottery ticket.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, Spain • 2019
- Director Salvador Simó
- Cast Jorge Usón, Fernando Ramos, Luis Enrique de Tomás, Cyril Corral, Javier Balas, Gabriel Latorre
- Genre Animation, Drama, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Tracey
(翠絲)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Hong Kong • 2018
- Director Jun Li
- Cast Philip Keung, Kara Hui, Eric Kot Man-Fai, River Huang, Ben Yuen, Jennifer Yu
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Toll
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2021
- Director Michael Nader
- Cast Shaina Silver-Baird, Katelyn McCulloch, Jess Brown, Jordan Hayes, Sarah Camacho, Thomas L. Colford
- Genre Thriller, Horror
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Dancing on Glass
(Las niñas de cristal)
Two ballerinas form an intense friendship as they cope with pressure at their toxic dance company.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2022
- Director Jota Linares
- Cast María Pedraza, Paula Losada, Mona Martínez, Marta Hazas, Ana Wagener
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Swing Ride
(Calcinculo)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Switzerland • 2022
- Director Chiara Bellosi
- Cast Gaia Di Pietro, Andrea Carpenzano, Barbara Chichiarelli, Giandomenico Cupaiuolo, Francesca Antonelli, Alessio Praticò
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.