The Flower of My Secret

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

1995 / 103min / 35mm

Leo Macías (Marisa Paredes) is looking to make a change after 20 unhappy years grinding out trashy “pink novels” under the nom de plume Amanda Gris, but when she submits a new, bracingly macabre manuscript to her publisher, Leo finds herself contractually forbidden from making further departures from the established winning formula of romantic drivel and upbeat endings, venting her frustration by writing criticisms of her own work, under yet another pseudonym, for local paper editor (Juan Echanove)—an Amanda Gris–superfan, naturally. A portrait of an artist in creative and personal crisis that, perhaps not coincidentally, marks a tonal shift in Almodóvar’s own work as he transitioned from over-the-top melodramas like High Heels and Kika towards a more tempered, restrained, and even sometimes somber cinema.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

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