Almodóvar turns the kitchen sink drama on its head with this unruly, hyperrealist comedy set in a crowded suburb of Madrid. Carmen Maura plays the stressed, sedative-addicted cleaner trying to hold her dysfunctional family together: a drunken husband in love with his ex-boss, two wayward sons and a mischievous mother-in-law (the late, great Chus Lampreave) who’s determined to do things her way.
Text by Maria Delgado with thanks to the BFI.